Kenya Dairy Board has come up with Dairy bill that will criminalize selling of milk to your neighbor.The bill outlines the following:
■ Farmers must first pasteurise their milk at farmgate before selling to consumers/neighbours
■ In the absence of pasteurisation, farmers must take all their milk to a cooling facility
■ Farmers are prohibited from selling their milk to hawkers
■ Price of milk from the dairy farmer will be based on quality, not quantity. The buyer will determine the quality
■ Farmers will be held criminally liable should their milk have contaminants like aflatoxins. Bear in mind that this is something the farmer has no control over. Aflatoxins and other contaminants in milk can be derived from purchased feed
■ A farmer will sell his milk to only one processor with whom he has a contract
■ Processors are free to import milk at any time there is no enough milk from the local market. They will determine when the milk is not enough.
■ A fine of Ksh 500,000 will be slapped on farmers flouting the rules
However, most Kenyans are not comfortable with the bill,saying they were not consulted.MP Moses Kuria has also vowed to mobilize MPS to reject the bill.Here is what he said:
“Press Release
As a proud owner of one beautiful cow by the name Ngunu, as a representative of over 100,000 dairy farmers in my constituency and as a leader, I would like to assure all dairy farmers that parliament will not approve the dairy regulations issued by the Kenya Dairy Board. The regulations are arbitrary, insensitive to the needs of the farmers and were developed without any form of public participation
I will be mobilizing other MPs representing dairy farmers to hold an urgent meeting with Agriculture CS Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri over this. Having held a similar meeting with leadership from the Sugar Belt, CS Kiunjuri is now experienced in stakeholder engagement and should not have a problem applying those vital skills and experiences gained to the milk sector. After all milk and sugar are joined In the cup!
End of Statement”