Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro has poked holes in President Uhuru Kenyatta's milk agenda.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Nyoro said that the government needs to set aside more funds for the milk farmers. He argued that the Sh 500 million facility given to KCC by the President is not enough to take care of the needs of the farmers. The lawmaker opined that some farmers are forced to consume their milk because of the lack of the market for the produce.
"Kenya produces around 5 Billion Litres of raw milk per annum. Out of which around 600M Litres is processed formally (around 10% of total production). Meaning milk processors whose capacity is around 1.3 Billion Ltrs p.a operate below optimum levels. Point is that we process around 1.6 Million litres of milk per day (most is consumed raw)," he wrote.
He noted that President Kenyatta's investment on KCC resolved part of the problem but there is room for improvement. The legislator advised the President to pump more funds to the sector for the sake of its growth.
"The Sh 500 M facility given to KCC by H.E the President in his state address can only purchase 15 Million litres at Sh 33 per litre. This is equivalent to 9 days of milk that is processed or 1.1 day(s) of total milk production. The gesture is timely but we must invest more and do much more," Nyoro added.