Why Ruto's buffalo milk directive sparked online frenzy

President William Ruto. [File, Standard]

If you went to primary school between 1979 and 1991, you remember the taste – slightly warm, half a litre – in a white and blue Tetra Pak with the coat of arms, ‘You bit the corner and sucked.’

Late President Daniel Arap Moi ordered it free milk for every public primary school child, and for a generation, milk was not bought; it was given in class at 10 am.

Forty years later, President William Ruto stood at the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Summit at Jamhuri Park ASK Showground early this month of October and said something that brought back memories and broke the internet at the same time.

"I had directed the Agriculture Principal Secretary, Jonathan Mueke, to help us bring in a better breed of camel and bring another buffalo breed. Buffaloes also produce a lot of milk. In India, there are buffaloes. If others are milking them, why can't we do the same? What is wrong with that? We need to diversify our sources of milk," Ruto said.

He added, "Tulikua tumesema tuanze na kidogo tuone hii buffalo, kama tunaweza kukamua."

The country was already facing a crisis as formal milk deliveries had dropped from 84.4 million litres in June to 81.3 million in July, with retail prices shooting to Sh80 for 500ml and Sh190-200 for camel milk in Nairobi.

The president’s logic was simple: ‘India produces more milk from buffaloes than cows. Why not Kenya?’

Kenyans on TikTok and Facebook did not wait for a policy paper, and they made skits; one viral video captioned ‘Obedient Kenyans trying to milk a buffalo after Ruto's order showed people climbing trees and sprinting to escape a charging buffalo.'

The phrase ‘Kama anataka tukufe aseme', if he wants us dead, let him say so, became the running joke as Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier became the unofficial dairy anthem.

The joke hid a real danger, as Kenyans were confusing two completely different animals. Ruto was talking about the gentle, domesticated ‘Indian Murrah’ water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), jet black, docile, and giving 12-15 litres of 7-8% butterfat milk.

What we have in Kenyan parks is the ‘African Cape buffalo' (Syncerus caffer), one of the Big Five, 900 kg, notorious for lying in wait and charging hunters.

Last week, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Aberdare National Park had to issue a humorous but serious warning after some Kenyans reportedly showed up at the park gate with buckets and ‘Arimis’ milking jelly, ready to milk wild buffaloes.

"Mbona mnakuja kwa park na ndoo na Arimis?" the rangers posted, with photos of milking equipment next to unimpressed buffalo faces, as KWS clarified these are wild animals, not dairy livestock, and could turn tables on would-be milkers.

Legally, Kenya is ready, and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe gazetted domesticated water buffalo as a food animal in Gazette Notice No. 977 on January 31, 2025, but that does not mean you can walk into Aberdare and milk.

‘Maziwa ya Nyayo’ at its peak fed 4.2 million children daily, collapsed after liberalisation in 1992 and with the Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC)'s fall in 1999, and milk became a business.

Now, from Githunguri to the coast, farmers who suffered with heat-stressed Friesians giving 8 litres are eyeing Murrahs giving 14 litres, where one litre makes 400 g of mozzarella vs 180 g from cow milk, and that is why the same farmer who supplied KCC for Nyayo milk in 1985 now supplies Java for buffalo pizza.

Ruto's proposal, though mocked, is actually putting dairy diversification on the national agenda, as it forces Egerton, UoN and KALRO to research.

From a child biting a Nyayo packet in 1985 to a TikToker running from a Cape buffalo in 2026 with a bucket to a farmer anywhere in the country, Kenya's milk story has never been more colourful or dangerous.

As Mama Fatma in Kongowea says, "Maziwa ya Nyayo ilikuwa ya shule. Maziwa ya nyati ni ya pesa, lakini usijaribu kukamua ya porini, utakamuliwa wewe!"