Milk reached Sh85 a litre in six Nairobi estates as President William Ruto told a government official to speed up efforts to raise camel milk production. Consumers face the higher prices, while farmers receive different rates depending on the cooperatives and processors that control their route to market.
At the close of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Summit 2026, Ruto said drought-related effects on production had cut supplies. He called for milk sources to include camels, sheep, goats and buffaloes, drawing laughter from the audience when he mentioned buffaloes. A Daily Nation spot check found Sh85 prices in Kasarani, Githurai, Zimmerman, Kayole, Buruburu and Embakasi. In Zimmerman, a litre had sold for Sh75 before the shortage.
Farmers and consumers bear the squeeze
Muthomi Njuki, Tharaka Nithi Governor and Council of Governors Vice-Chairperson, said production rose after government subsidies on fertiliser, certified seeds and artificial insemination services, but markets and processing capacity in some areas couldn't keep up. “We need to strengthen markets, processing and value addition so that increased production translates into better incomes for farmers,” Njuki said. He urged the government to implement the AgriConnect Compact without delay, saying timely financing was critical if farmers were to benefit from programmes and increase their incomes.
Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe described the situation as a fall in supply, not a milk shortage. He said the government would keep engaging dairy cooperatives and processors. Farmers supplying different cooperatives and processors received between Sh50 and Sh53 per litre, while some received up to Sh55, Kagwe said, pointing to the need for efficient cooperative management and fair returns.
Ruto said changes at the New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) aimed to improve farmers’ earnings and ensure timely payment for milk deliveries. “Farmers should not have to wait two or three months to receive their money,” he said. Consumers pay more than farmers receive, and the gap sits within a chain run by cooperatives, processors and government-directed reforms.
Government plans and the value chain
Ruto directed Principal Secretary for Livestock Development Jonathan Mueke to speed up the search for improved camel breeds. Expanding camel milk production, he said, will require investment in pastoralist communities, which have the animals and traditional knowledge to support the value chain. Those communities need help to improve production and connect with urban markets, including Nairobi; the government will explore ways to improve breeds and diversify milk sources.
Ruto credited government interventions, including subsidised fertiliser and efforts to improve productivity, for lifting milk production over the past three years from 4.5 billion litres to 5.5 billion litres. He said Kenya had become Africa’s largest milk producer. Tea production also increased by 50 million kilogrammes, he said, while average payments to tea farmers for green leaf rose from Sh16 per kilogramme three years ago to about Sh30 this year.
The government mobilised Sh1.55 billion to modernise selected tea factories and made Sh850 million available for further improvements. Ruto announced approval of 50 acres at the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone for the Kenya Tea Development Agency to establish a tea value-addition facility targeting higher-value products and export markets. The government also provided Sh100 million to Kenya Tea Packers to modernise processing facilities.
Investment from above, production below
More than 10,000 farmers, government officials, county leaders, private sector players and development partners attended the summit. Its theme was “Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation — Advancing Food Sovereignty, Job Creation, and Shared Prosperity under BETA.” The account describes discussion of markets, financing and government programmes, but no direct action or mutual-aid effort by farmers.
Qimiao Fan, World Bank Director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda, said food-system change required sustained investment and collaboration among government, development partners and private investors. The World Bank Group aims to raise its global annual financing for farming and agribusiness to $9 billion by 2030 and mobilise another $5 billion from the private sector, Fan said. The bank is in advanced discussions with the Kenyan government on a multi-year programme involving farming, agribusiness, irrigation, rural roads, research, extension services and digital infrastructure.
Ruto also said all 41 fish landing sites along the Coast had been gazetted as government facilities, warning cartels against grabbing public land reserved for fisheries. Planned support includes boats, fishing equipment, fish cages and fingerlings. He said a marine centre of excellence had been established at the Coast National Polytechnic at a cost of about Sh600 million. The summit’s plans place public land, farmer incomes and food production within government and investment-led systems; the people doing the work still depend on whether those systems deliver. The government gazetted all 41 fish landing sites as public facilities.