The Kenyan Dairy Board is pushing a savings and credit cooperative organisation (SACCO) model among milk traders to streamline and transform the sector
The Kenyan Dairy Board managing director Margaret Rugu, said that SACCO model groups will enable traders to self-regulate, access credit facilities and equipment. The board is counting on the structures of the SACCO to ensure compliance with rules and as a way of increasing access to input by farmers.
“Most of the traders’ groups have been informal, but we are already assisting them to set up structures,” she said. “By law, most of these groups are not being recognised, that is why we want to formalise them.” She pointed out that once the dairy groups were formalised, they will be able to enjoy benefits including the purchase of equipment, acquire licences or comply with the regulations apart from enjoying the economies of scale.
Through the initiative, traders will come up with means of ensuring that players comply with the dairy sector regulations.
Rugu pointed out that one of the key challenges faced by many farmers in the country was that they have been slow in changing their traditional ways of farming to adopt the latest technologies and good agricultural practices.
The board, according to the MD, is also promoting adoption of the school milk programme in counties to create market. She also pointed out that the dairy industry has been one of the fastest growing in the economy averaging at more than five per cent per year.