Dairy farmers will now sell their milk to New Kenya Co-operative Creameries (New KCC) at KES 50, up from KES 40, beginning March 1, following a directive from President William Ruto.
Speaking during the commissioning of the modernized New KCC Nyahururu Factory in Nyahururu, Laikipia County, Ruto also directed that farmers should receive their payments every 15 days.
The head of state noted, “The government will make the new KCC more efficient, facilitate training, invest in value addition, and secure lucrative markets that will offer better returns to milk farmers. This will ensure that we double our production to more than 10 billion liters a year to drive our growth.”The New KCC Nyahururu Factory is set to serve more than five counties, processing at least 150,000 liters of milk a day from the current 80,000 liters.
On credit, Ruto promised that the government has allocated KES 10 billion to enhance farmers’ access to seasonal credit through the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC). He further guaranteed that farmers would receive this season’s fertilizer at a subsidized cost of KES 2,500.
Accompanying him was his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, who stated reforms in the agricultural sector have been successful, citing improved earnings by tea, coffee, and milk farmers. “The last bonus has been the highest in the history of tea farming in the country,” he said. He condemned unscrupulous business people who have been making attempts to smuggle powdered milk into the country.
The government’s goal of bolstering KCC’s processing capacity is to ensure it handles the entire volume of milk produced by farmers.
