Dairy farmers may have a reason to smile soon as the government prepares to announce a rescue plan to end the current milk glut.
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Agriculture minister William Ruto said the rescue package was mooted at a crisis meeting of officials from the ministries of Agriculture, Livestock, and Cooperative Development to ensure that farmers do not incur any more losses.
Milk supply has in the past few weeks outstripped the demand by processors and other dairy industries. It has also emerged that Livestock minister Abdi Kuti had floated a proposal to the Treasury for Sh300 million to buy excess milk from farmers.
“We have had significant consultations with the three ministries to ensure that the dairy industry remains stable,” said Mr Ruto.
“We are going to announce measures that we will take to ensure that farmers do not incur any further losses,” he added. The news comes at a time when farmers are counting their losses with the processors turning away their produce and cutting milk prices.
According to Mathira MP Ephraim Maina, the woes of the New KCC stem from the sacking of the former managing director. “His sacking was political and that is the cause of all the problems at the company,” Mr Maina told the press at the weekend.
But industry players said that the problem needed collective responsibility. “The problem is big and requires collective action,” said Mr John Gethi, the general manager of Brookside Dairy, in an earlier interview with the Nation.
Last week, Cooperative Development minister Joseph Nyagah appeared before a Parliamentary committee to answer questions on the capacity of the New KCC to handle the increased milk supply.
Incompetence
He accused the managers of “deliberate incompetence.” Mr Nyagah told the Agricultural committee that the managers had misadvised the board, leading to directors making decisions based on ignorance.
“The board was misled on the capacity of the company to handle so much milk.” Mr Ruto said he had been in talks with Mr Nyagah and Mr Kuti to resolve the crisis.
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