Program Partners

Key stakeholders in the Kenyan dairy value chain include smallholder and large-scale milk producers, farmer-owned milk bulking/cooling businesses (and their male and female members), transporters, processors, retailers (including vendors or "hawkers" of raw milk), consumers, GOK offices that enforce policy and provide services and inputs to farmers, and private sector service providers and vendors of inputs (feed, seed, fertilizer, dairy cattle genetics and pharmaceuticals, etc.). Government of Kenya agencies, although much more disengaged since the early 1990s still retains strong and selective interests in the industry.

PUBLIC AGENCIES

Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development (MOLFD): Provides technical services, training, research services and limited inputs. The Department of Livestock Production (DLP), with offices at regional and district levels, provides extension training and technical assistance services to farmers. Farmer Field Schools (FFS) are one important "tool" used by DLP extension agents to demonstrate new technology and teach better management practices to dairy and livestock producers. www.livestock.go.ke

Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), under the MOLFD, provides disease prevention, diagnostic and treatment services, on a limited basis, with primary focus on virulent diseases such as foot-and-mouth, and enzootic diseases. With privatization of GOK services in the 1990s, the DVS severely curtailed cattle dipping and disease control services, with subsequent increases in tick-borne disease and declines in productivity. www.livestock.go.ke

Center for Artificial Insemination Services (CAIS) - a quasi-governmental parastatal that maintains breeding bulls - regulates and supports delivery of artificial insemination (AI) services, and collects, freezes and markets bull semen through a network of inseminators.

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) is a semi-autonomous public organization that undertakes research on key issues impacting the agricultural sector in Kenya. KARI researchers are actively engaged in projects focusing on key issues of concern to the dairy sector, including control of cattle diseases such as East Coast Fever (ECF), development of forage production systems appropriate to small farms, and new varieties of forage, such as disease-resistant napier grass. www.kari.org/

The Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) is the key GOK agency that both regulates and promotes the dairy industry. The main functions of KDB are the enforcement of national standards for the dairy industry, training for the industry, facilitation of stakeholders' activities, maintenance of a databank for the industry, and regulation of imports. www.kdb.co.ke

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is GOK agency that has a major role in the regulation of the dairy industry as the statutory body charged with the enforcement of standards and certification of quality standards of all products and services in the country. http://www.kebs.org

Ministry of Health (MOH) Public Health Departments at national and district levels have a statutory role in overseeing food safety. Dairy producers are also required to meet the licensing regulations of the local authorities in their areas of operations and regulations of the MOH Public Health Departments. www.health.go.ke

OTHER PARTNERS

Kenya Dairy Processors Association (KDPA). Most prominent among the processors are the Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC), Delamere, Brookside Dairies and Spin Knit Dairy.

The Association of Kenyan Feed Manufacturers (AKFEMA) brings together the major feed manufacturers. The main market for these firms is the poultry and swine industry. At the same time, with increased marketing of milk from high-producing cows in confinement systems, demand for dairy "mash" is increasing.

East and Southern Africa Dairy Association (ESADA): ESADA has an overall mission of increasing trade in African dairy products. Its membership base includes East and Southern African private sector companies producing quality processed dairy products. ESADA actively lobbies for an improved regional policy environment conductive to regional and international trade. www.dairyafrica.com

Universities: Train future veterinarians as well as BSPs mainly in the areas of livestock (management, health and nutrition) and forage production. These stakeholders will become increasingly important as the dairy industry moves into the next phase of growth. Specific universities include: University of Nairobi, Moi University and Egerton University.