Empty Shelves: What is Behind Kenya’s Severe Milk Shortage?

 Supermarket shelves across Nairobi and major urban centers are running low as Kenya faces a sharp drop in national milk supplies. The shortage has triggered panic buying and modest price spikes, leaving consumers wondering why a daily household staple has suddenly become hard to find.

The squeeze stems from a severe dry spell across key dairy-producing regions. Prolonged cold and dry weather has depleted pastures, reducing fodder supplies and forcing cows to produce significantly less milk. Compounding the climate challenge is the soaring cost of commercial animal feed. High prices for feed ingredients have made supplemental feeding financially unsustainable for many smallholder farmers. Furthermore, pricing disputes have diverted raw milk away from formal processors and into local informal markets.

State officials describe the shortage as a temporary setback linked to seasonal weather shifts. Livestock Development Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke announced immediate intervention measures, including duty-free imports of yellow maize to lower animal feed production costs. The government is also engaging feed manufacturers to map and distribute existing stocks to high-need areas. Long-term plans include establishing a strategic milk preservation fund to dry excess milk during flush seasons to cushion against future dry spells. Additionally, authorities warned cooperatives against withholding fair returns, urging them to pass higher market payouts directly to producers.

What Farmers Say

Dairy farmers point to razor-thin profit margins as the root issue. While processing companies pay higher wholesale prices, smallholders argue that local cooperatives absorb too much of the profit, passing on minimal gains. Faced with expensive feed and meager payouts, many farmers have opted to sell directly to informal vendors in rural villages where prices are higher and payments are immediate. Dairy producers emphasize that until feed costs drop and cooperative governance improves, national formal supply will remain fragile.