End milk crisis, Kibaki tells ministers

Any Cabinet minister who sabotages plans to market dairy products will be sacked, President Kibaki has warned.

Announcing a raft of measures to boost agricultural production and ensure food security, the President directed the ministries of Agriculture, Cooperative Development, and Livestock to work together and resolve the problems facing the dairy sector.

“None of the three ministers is superior to the other and it is their responsibility to work together and ensure that there is no milk glut in the country,” the President said when he officially opened the Eldoret Agricultural Society of Kenya show on Thursday.

He also urged farmers to form strong cooperative societies to undertake milk processing and diversify the marketing of dairy products.

Farmers in the country have incurred losses running into millions of shillings following increased milk production that has stretched the processing capacity of the New KCC and private dairies.

“Last year, dairy farmers in Rift Valley sold milk worth Sh9.5 billion and earned another Sh20.5 billion from the sale of assorted livestock,” the President said.

He added that he was aware that farmers were facing challenges with the marketing of milk mainly due to limited processing capacity at the New KCC and other players.

On maize, he assured farmers that the National Cereals and Produce Board would buy their produce at Sh2,300 for a 90kg bag. “The board will begin purchasing maize in all parts of the country, including Hola and Bura irrigation schemes, which have recorded a bumper harvest,” he said.

He said Rift Valley Province earned Sh38.9 billion from 16.8 million bags of maize last year despite adverse climatic conditions. The Head of State announced the introduction of a small-scale horticulture development project at a cost of Sh4 billion to improve production.

He said export earnings grew from Sh57 billion in 2007 to Sh74 billion in 2008 and urged farmers to double their efforts in order to benefit more.

On tea farming, President Kibaki said the construction of eight additional factories in Rift Valley would support the production of the crop and save farmers from exploitation by illegal marketing agents.

He said the province produced 150 million kilogrammes of tea worth Sh17 billion last year. He urged factories to diversify their products and include other types of teas in order to improve earnings.