As part of the historic UN Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, countries committed to fight climate change by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions from various sectors, including agriculture. Kenya is not being left behind. Stakeholders from the dairy sector recently met to discuss measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Worldwide, the livestock sector is responsible for 14% of all human induced greenhouse gas emission. Dairy is a major economic activity in Kenya’s agricultural sector and a source of livelihood to some 500,000 people engaged through the value chain. The industry engages one million smallholder farmers who account for 80% of milk produced in Kenya, with large-scale farming accounting for the remaining 20%.

Led by the State Department of Livestock, the dairy Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) project aims to transform Kenya’s dairy sector to a low-emission development pathway, while improving the livelihoods of male and female dairy producers. In line with Kenya’s Vision 2030, this will contribute to the country’s green growth economy and realize climate resilience benefits to dairy producers. The focus is on increasing on-farm dairy productivity, reducing non-renewable energy use and building capacities of national institutions and stakeholders in monitoring and evaluation of project outputs, outcomes and impacts...

BY SUSAN ONYANGO · SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

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Like most developing countries, Kenya’s dairy sector faces challenges. These include low quality genetics, insufficient extension services, inadequate and poor quality feeds, high costs of investments for smallholders, high cost of certified inputs, land tenure systems, inadequate physical and marketing structures and climate change effects.