Farmers protest delayed payments for milk deliveries

Farmer Tom Nyagechaga. [Obare Osinde, Standard]

Dairy farmers in the North Rift region are protesting against delayed payments for raw milk deliveries to New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC).

They claimed KCC has not paid them for the deliveries since July this year.

The delays, the farmers protested, have frustrated their farming activities, citing the high cost of producing mil.

The farmers lamented that despite presenting their grievances to acting Managing Director Samuel Ichura, the management has not cleared the pending payments running into millions of shillings.

Speaking to journalists in Kitale, the farmers, led by Tom Nyagechaga, accused the New KCC management of taking them for a ride.

“It is unfortunate that we have not received payment for raw milk deliveries for the months of July, August, September and October this year,” said Nyagechaga.

Nyagechaga, who is also the Kenya National Farmers Federation commodity representative, said dairy farming activities have been grounded due to the delayed payments.

“We are unable to feed our cows because of the lack of money to buy animal feed. Our activities have been grounded,” said Nyagechaga.

The farmers urged President William Ruto to intervene over the matter. He warned that milk production is set to drop as a result of the financial constraints facing farmers. “It has become almost impossible to procure feed for our animals,” he argued.

The farmers, however, welcomed the ban on the importation of milk powder by the government.