East African Business Week (Kampala)
Samuel Otieno
28 April 2008
Nairobi — Kenya's dairy sector could be on the verge of recovery after the World Bank, through its development agency, released funds to support farmers whose properties were destroyed during the post election violence.
The Bank through its International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says it has released Ksh4.6 billion (US$69.3 million) for the revival of the dairy industry, three months after the sector incurred massive losses in the recent political unrest.
Presenting the good news to farmers, the newly appointed Livestock minister Mohamed Kuti said that the money will be split into pools to support dairy farmers who have been in the recent past petitioning the government for financial support to resuscitate their livestock enterprises.
The local dairy industry was one of the hardest hit by poll chaos, to a point that some of the dairy factories stopped operating as others operated under capacity due to supply hitches that were occasioned by transport problems during the post poll chaos.
The minister said Ksh3.2 billion ($49.2 million) will be channeled through the Kenya Agricultural Production Programme, KAPP, while another Ksh1.4 billion would directly go to selected farmers to assist them replenish their stocks.
The minister said demand for milk and its products in the country was still high despite the return to calm.
"The price of milk has since shot up to Ksh21 ($32 cents) per litre and the products are on high demand in the Middle East, which has remained a lucrative market for our milk," he said.
Yemen and Saudi Arabia are some of the Kenya dairy product consumers.
The funding comes two months after a farmers organization petitioned the government to financially assist them restart their livestock farming.
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