Dairy farmers in Kiambu county wan the Kenya Dairy Board disbanded.
The farmers say the institution had failed to regulate the importation of milk and milk products besides failing to take into account the interests of local producers and consumers.
Addressing the media at Jamaica Catholic Church grounds in Githunguri on Saturday, the farmers led by Githunguri-based Fresha milk processors chairman Charles Mukora said that there was a glut of imported milk in the Kenyan market.
They said the milk is imported from neighbouring countries particularly Uganda, which has negatively affected the local dairy farmers who are likely to be edged out of the market.
"We petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to personally intervene and see to it that the East Africi Market Protocol will no longer hurt Kenyans," Mukora.
He said the government should not put 'domestic business hurdles' for importers with a view of cushioning the local dairy farmers.
"We had opened a Fresha dairy milk production in Tanzania but had to close shop due to the stringent terms and conditions required in that country and the same should apply here," he said.
According to Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuiri, the annual milk production in Kenya is estimated at 5.2 billion litres per year, while consumption is approximately 5.4 billion litres, resulting in a deficit of about 200 million litres.
We obtained the figures from a response to the Parliamentary departmental commitment of Agriculture and Livestock on a question by Githunguri MP Gabriel Kago, who sought to know what the Ministry was doing to ensure regulation of milk importation.
The minister said that the government created and implemented a legal instrument to regulate dairy imports and exports in 2004 which is anchored on the Dairy Industry Act Cap 336 of the laws of Kenya.
He further said the ministry is focusing on improving productivity and efficiency in the dairy value chain in order to enhance the competitiveness of the Kenya milk and products.
However, dairy farmers expressed their misgivings about the way the dairy industry was being manned noting that the dairy board had slept on the job.
'The market is flooded with reconstituted milk made by unscrupulous dealers who later claim to have imported the same,'
'We are also experiencing losses because of the exorbitant prices of animals feeds that most farmers can't afford,' said the chairman.
The farmers accused leaders in the county of failing to support their efforts to have the cost of animal feeds reduced.
