Policy messages

The main policy messages emerging from the symposium were contained in a press release that was delivered to the local media during a press briefing held at ILRI Nairobi on Thursday 3 December 2009.

Press release

In East Africa, key dairy development players have been meeting regularly over the last three years to facilitate exchange of new approaches and to harmonize policies under a forum, the East Africa Dairy Regulatory Authorities Council (EADRAC). EADRAC comprises the leaders of dairy regulatory authorities from the five East African Community countries. A meeting of EADRAC held on 30 November 2009 preceded this symposium. Under a rotating-chairmanship arrangement the Managing Director, Kenya Dairy Board, Mr Machira Gichohi is currently serving as the chair of EADRAC.

The South–South symposium brought together key researchers and decision-makers from East Africa and Northeast India to share lessons on traditional dairy development.

Importance of traditional dairy sector

India is the largest dairy producer in the world and in Kenya dairy is the largest agricultural sub-sector by contribution to gross domestic product (GDP). In both India and East Africa some 70-90% of milk is handled by the informal, traditional dairy sector. This is a main source of employment and nutrition. For example, in India, some 100 million farmers are employed in the dairy sector: most of which is handled by the traditional sector. In Kenya around 1.6 million smallholder households depend on dairy for their main livelihood, again the majority of these depend on the informal sector market which employs 30,000 people along the supply chain.

Policy messages

Best evidence suggests the informal sector will continue to co-exist for the foreseeable future. There is need for enabling policy to help facilitate the ongoing transformation and modernization of the traditional sector and to build stronger synergies with the formal sector.

There are concerns about public health and consumer safety and a real need to address these. Training and certification has proven a highly successful model for improving milk quality in East Africa, and this innovation shows promise for other southern countries.

Moving to quality-based payments provides a strong incentive for improving the quality and safety of milk has been successfully trialed in India and should be encouraged in East Africa.

As a long term objective, harmonization of standards is required, and in the short term continued benchmarking between East Africa and South Asia can benefit both regions.

Dairy sector governance is complex with multiple agents and overlapping mandates. There is a need to co-ordinate agencies; a one stop-shop for all dairy stakeholders would be the ideal model.

Some exciting innovations the delegates saw or heard about during the 3-day symposium included:

• E-dairy: a single electronic information exchange platform that is being developed by the Kenya Dairy Board. In India this has been in practice under the National Dairy Development Board, and East African countries have also shown interest in the model.
• Innovative technologies for dispensing milk cheaply and in variable quantities that are being used in Kenyan supermarkets. These have also been used in India.
• Action research in India showed how small and inexpensive innovations, such as supplying lactometers to consumers can drive up milk quality.
• A system of training and certification of milk vendors using a business development service approach has been successful in Kenya and is being applied in other East African countries. It is also being applied in Northeast India.

The symposium was organized by the International Livestock Research Institute and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa through the support of various donors including the United States Agency for International Development, the UK Department for International Development and the European Community.

Media coverage

Mugambi, K. 2009. Can’t beat them? Join them. Daily Nation, 7 December 2009.

http://www.nation.co.ke/magazines/smartcompany/-/1226/818698/-/r6x6v3z/-/index.html