What problem or need is the project addressing?
Kenya’s informal milk industry provides a livelihood for thousands of small-scale farmers and milk traders as well as a source of cheap, unprocessed milk for poor families who cannot afford the packaged milk on sale in shops and supermarkets.
Current legislation, however, favours the interests of large-scale commercial operators and processors, resulting in harassment and threats to the livelihoods of informal traders and small-scale dairy farmers.
A new Dairy Policy is being drafted, but unless those in the informal milk sector have input into the policy discussions there is a strong possibility that their needs will be ignored and it will be shaped according to the interests of the commercial sector.
What is the project doing?
The project will help groups of traders form associations which will allow for proper certification, and the delivery of training programmes to improve hygiene and product quality.
It will also enable them to engage with policy makers so their interests are protected in any future legislation.
What impact has the project had?
This project has only just received funding to enable it to go ahead. However by the end of the project in three years’ time, ten associations of informal dairy traders will have been formed, representing 2,500 traders.
By encouraging other stakeholders such as the Kenya Dairy Board and departments of public health to promote similar self-organisation it is expected that the project could benefit up to 20,000 other people indirectly.
Our local partner
Our local partner in the project is SITE Enterprise Promotion, a Kenyan NGO whose goal is the promotion of employment opportunities and economic growth among small-scale producers.
How is this project funded?
This project is funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID).
