Kampala — Milk production in south western Uganda has dropped by half due to the prolonged drought. The farm gate price of milk has gone up by sh200 a litre from sh380 to sh600.

Clayton Arinanye the Uganda Crane Creameries Cooperative Union (UCCCU) said that the cost of producing a litre of milk is sh340 from sh280 due to climate variations.

In Kampala supermarkets, the prices of pasteurised milk went up from sh700 to sh900 for half a litre and from sh1, 400 for a litre to sh1, 700.

Unprocessed milk costs between sh1,000 and sh1, 300 a litre from sh700 depending on the location.

Uganda's five milk sheds produce about 1.5 billion litres of milk annually. About 800,000 litres are collected daily by the 98 collection centres of which only 500,000 litres are processed.

Arinanye said that the volume of milk produced has dropped by 50% due to the dry spell while the demand is steadily shooting up around the country.

There are 11 dairy processing plants with a capacity of 810,000 litres. The processing plants are producing below installed capacity due to unavailability of raw milk.

According to the Dairy Development Authority statistics, the per capita consumption of milk is 50 litres per person per year.

Milk production normally falls at this time of the year pushing prices to higher levels. The informal sector handles over 80% of the milk produced daily, while the remaining 20% is processed.

The demand for milk and dairy products has exceeded production. Urban consumption has gone up by 40% due to continued encouragement by health workers for people to consume dairy products.