Look at milk pricing – Governor Kimemia urges National Government

There is need to create an inter-governmental team to look at the distortion of milk prices in the country, Nyandarua. Governor Francis Kimemia has said.

“It is not normal that producer prices have continued to plummet while shelve prices have remained the same. This is a product of market distortions which are exacerbated by the international market dynamics within the East African Community’s tariff structures which are disadvantaging our farmers,” Governor Kimemia added when he addressed a dairy farmers’ award ceremony hosted by Brookside held in Ruiru.

in February this year, the County head had raised alarm over the uncontrolled milk imports, especially powder, which stood to hurt the dairy market calling on the national government to check on the imports.

Calling for policy interventions which would compel both state and non-state agencies to first exhaust the both liquid and powder milk in the country before being allowed to import, the Governor said that such a strategy would create a steady market for the local producers.

“Our state organs like the disciplined services, UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations should first use what’s locally available before venturing into imports. Let our policies be producer-conscious and our efforts geared towards putting money into the farmers’ pockets,” said Kimemia.

Responding to the issues raised by Governor Kimemia, Cabinet Secretary for Trade, Industrialization and Cooperatives Hon. Peter Munya, who was also present, said that the government had formed a select committee to address the problems in the dairy sector.

“Some of the proposals include tariff and non-tariff interventions within our EAC market, verification and enforcement of the ‘rule of origin’ to ensure no dumping, intensifying the fights against counterfeits and promotion of quality-based pricing models,” said Munya