World News

Kenya faces dairy shortage and rising prices amid dry spell and feed costs

Supermarkets limit purchases and prices climb as officials weigh duty-free feed and regional milk imports to ease constraints.

Updated Sep 4, 2026 · 02:18 UTC1 reports

The short version

A milk shortage in Kenya has emptied supermarket shelves, prompted retailer rationing, and raised fresh milk prices from 70 to 80 shillings per litre.
The government points to drought, while consumer groups also highlight high feed costs and inadequate conversion of prior surpluses into powder reserves.
Authorities are considering duty-free imports of yellow maize for cattle feed, establishing a surplus preservation fund, and temporarily importing milk from neighboring nations.

Formal milk deliveries to processors declined by 3.7% from 84.4 million litres in June to 81.3 million litres in July, with preliminary indications showing further drops in August, according to the Kenya Dairy Board.[BBC News]
Retail prices for fresh milk increased from 70 to 80 Kenyan shillings per litre amid the supply constraints.[BBC News]
The Consumer Federation of Kenya stated that animal feed costs have surged by 45% and criticized state processor New KCC and the regulator for failing to build sufficient milk powder buffers during last year's surplus.[BBC News]
The Ministry of Agriculture met with dairy processors and is considering duty-free yellow maize imports for feed, a milk preservation fund, and temporary milk imports from neighboring countries.[BBC News]

The exact scale of August delivery declines remains preliminary, and the timeline for implementing proposed emergency feed imports or regional dairy purchases has not been finalized.[BBC News]