Kenya is experiencing a growing demand for milk and dairy products driven by expanding urbanization, increasing population and a growing middle class. To meet this increased demand means that the output per cow needs to double.
The overall milk production in 2019 amounted to 5.2b litres and only about 55% of this milk is sold either in informal or formal markets. About 80% is consumed as liquid milk.
Unfortunately, the dairy sector is characterized by low-input, low-yield systems, which produce much less than the national herd potential, with productivity per milking cow being low and highly variable, ranging from four to eight litres a day.
A key challenge to improved productivity in the dairy sector is climate change which has resulted in the lack of proper feeds for dairy animals. This has further been worsened by poor feeding habits due to a lack of knowledge on proper forage.
Despite the dairy sector being able to provide income opportunities, particularly for women, and high-quality nutrition the sector still faces several challenges
In an effort to solve some of these challenges, the Dairy Kenya Ireland project was developed through a bilateral Ireland-Kenya Agri-Food strategy.
The project’s three main objectives include developing a new cattle breeding programme, improving production systems that are forage-based and developing an innovation hub in support of the dairy value chain.

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