Milk shortage hits Bomet as supply declines

An acute milk shortage has hit Bomet Town and its environs, leaving consumers struggling to find the commodity.

A spot check by The Standard across milk outlets established that most sellers have hiked milk prices from about Sh50 to Sh100 per litre. 

Beatrice Chepkirui, a milk vendor in Kapkwen, said the commodity is in decline as farmers struggle with the high cost of dairy feed, coupled with prolonged dry weather.

Chepkirui said they have been forced to cut down on the amount of milk they supply to clients due to the biting shortage.

“The situation is not good in terms of the amount of milk we are receiving from our suppliers daily. From January this year, we have been collecting over 1000 litres of fresh milk on a normal working day.” She said.

She added, “But beginning in August this year, deliveries started dropping drastically. Today, we are only receiving less than 200 litres daily, which is far below the daily demand of our clients.”

Chepkirui now says their only hope is that the weather improves during the anticipated El Niño rains this month, allowing pasture to regenerate and easing farmers’ dependence on commercial dairy feeds, which are high-cost.

 She warned that unless this happens, the future of the dairy sector is at stake. “One of the causes for the current milk shortage is the high cost of animal feed, which has forced many dairy farmers to abandon milk production,” Chepkirui said.

“The problem has also been aggravated by a dry spell that has greatly affected the production of Napier grass and other animal fodder, which, in effect, has affected milk production for individual animals. Right now our only hope for the situation to stabilise is early January next year if the El Niño rains do come,” she added.           

Chepkirui further said that due to the shortage, prices have gone up as they try to manage the situation.

A restaurant owner in Bomet town who only identified herself as Sherryl stated, “We have been forced to increase the price of tea sold to our customers because the milk is sold to us at a high price.”

She also added that if the issue is not resolved soon, she’ll be forced to stop selling milk tea until further notice, and since it is her main source of income, it’ll be a loss for her. Initially, a cup of tea cost Sh20; now it costs Sh30, an increase of Sh10.

The Kenya Dairy Board expects domestic supply to stabilise and recover with the arrival of the October–November–December short rains, which will replenish pastureland.              

Kenya’s milk demand stands at 8 billion litres annually against a production of 5.76 billion litres, according to statistics from the Kenya Dairy Board.

This year, milk production in the country fell by 3.7 per cent, from 844 million litres in June to 81.3 million litres in July, prompting the price of a 500-millilitre packet to rise by Sh15.                                                                              

The Board has attributed the decline to the prevailing cold and dry weather, coupled with the high cost of dairy feed.