Uhuru opens Sh400m line at Eldoret New KCC

Milk farmers in the North Rift could see their earnings increase significantly following the commissioning of a Sh400 million processing line at the New Kenya Co-operative Creameries plant in Eldoret.

The new line will increase the firm’s daily capacity from 100,000 litres of milk to 300,000 litres.

New KCC is targeting the processing of Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT) milk and powdered milk from the new facility.

“Farmers income is going to improve significantly from the launch of this new line that has created room for absorption of more milk from producers,” said New KCC managing director Nixon Sigey.

The increased milk uptake could see the farmers earn up to Sh2 billion more annually.

To maximise its use in the wake of the ongoing milk shortage in the country, Mr Sigey said they would reconstitute powdered milk using the commissioned line in order to improve the supply of the commodity to the consumers.

“Until the situation stabilises, we are going to reconstitute powdered milk in order to make good use of this facility. The 20 per cent increment in production is still too low to make good use of the new line,” he said.

The new production line was opened by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday who noted that it will turn around the fortunes of milk farmers.

Mr Kenyatta said the days when milk produced by farmers went to waste will be a thing of the past since the factory has the capacity to convert it into powder and later on reconstitute it to long life milk.

Mr Kenyatta announced that the Government will zero-rate all milk products to make it affordable to consumers.

Deputy President William Ruto said the Eldoret factory will ensure supply of milk in the country remains constant and thus benefit consumers.