Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Program

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The Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Program (KDSCP) is a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Land O’Lakes, Inc. in Kenya.

"The USAID Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Program (KDSCP) is 5-year effort to improve Kenya’s dairy industry competitiveness, implemented by Land O’Lakes, Inc., with the financial and technical support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The goal of KDSCP is to increase smallholder household income from the sale of quality milk.
"KDSCP is implemented through a range of activities grouped together into three broad programmatic components. First, the program will upgrade the capacity of the dairy industry to compete in local, regional and international markets. Second, it will transform dairy smallholder business organizations into viable enterprises that supply quality milk to the market and facilitate access to critical services and inputs to farmer-members. Third, the program will strengthen support markets, increasing the availability and utilization of market-link dairy business development services, inputs, technologies provided by business service providers to dairy enterprises.
"On component one, KDSC will among other activities, facilitates institutional capacity building at Industry level. One Key institution is the Kenya Dairy Board. It plays a key role in providing a vision, leading Industry-level reforms and initiatives as well as in providing essential information and services to the sector.

The program is expected to facilitate the provision of technical assistance to support initiatives that support their long term sustainability. One such initiative is the development of the National Master plan that will provide guidance to the dairy Industry as a whole."[1]

Milkshed Assessment

In 2008, KDSCP began with a survey of Central, Rift Valley, and Eastern Provinces that sought "milk-sheds" of an area within a 35 km radius of a central location that could produce between 50,000 and 100,000 litres of milk per day. They identified 13 such milksheds: Trans Nzoia, Lessos, Kapsabet, Nakuru, Sotik, Ol Karou, Kinangop, Nyeri, Gatanga, Kabete, Embu, Meru, and Timau.[2] They looked at the number of dairy animals as well as rainfall and availability of milk collection and chilling infrastructure by the three leading processors "namely New KCC and Brookside Dairies and Spin Knit Dairies." The report concluded that five reasons why USAID should support these areas are:[2]

"1. These areas have high livestock density which in turn means there is a high milk density threshold per square kilometer.
"2. The milk sheds are within high rainfall areas or in close proximity to areas with high biomass production. Feeding of dairy cattle is often based on crop residues and low quality hay and pasture. Since these are often low both in protein and energy there is a need for supplementary feeding to meet nutrient requirements but supplies of commercial concentrate are limited and expensive.
"3. The areas have a traditional culture of producing and consuming milk which provides a captive local market to absorb surplus production.
"4. These areas have high poverty thresholds and successful dairy production has proved to be very effective in creating income and employment opportunities for the farmers, their families and even landless individuals in the communities who provide services to dairy. As land pressure increases, dairy is going to play an increasingly important role as a tool for poverty alleviation.
"5. Finally, these milk sheds have greater road density for milk collection and therefore support to these areas will ease logistical arrangements in program management."

Articles and resources

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References

  1. ↑ KDSCP Master Plan Development, Accessed November 6, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 KDSCP Milkshed Assessment and Small Business Organizations Needs Analysis, October 18, 2008.

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