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Impression
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
NAIROBI, June 4th
(Xinhua / GNA) – Kenya explores dairy markets in West and North Africa to boost
farmers' incomes, officials said on Tuesday.
Harry Kimutai,
Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and
Irrigation, said at a press conference in Nairobi that the African Continental Free
Trade (AFCFTA) will remove barriers for Kenyan products seeking market access
rest of Africa.
"We are preparing
the dairy sector to produce competitively so that we can sell our surplus of dairy products
products in Africa, "said Kimutai at the official launch of Kenya
annual awards program of the dairy industry.
Kimutai noted that
Liberia had already expressed interest in the importation of Kenyan dairy products.
The government
One official said Kenya should convert milk into value-added products
like milk powder and cheese to increase its penetration into the
African market.
According to Kimutai,
the dairy is one of the fastest growing agricultural subsectors in Kenya,
livelihoods to more than 1.8 million rural smallholder households and
many more in the value chain and in support services.
"The dairy industry
contributes more than 4% to gross domestic product (GDP), due to
increase in national milk production which averages 5.3% a year and
the processing capacity of dairy products increases by 7% per year, "added Kimutai.
He observed that the
Milk production growth was driven by growing urban demand at a rate of 3%.
per cent, resulting in a per capita national consumption of milk of 110 liters,
which was one of the highest in Africa.
GNA
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