An analysis of the contribution of the informal milk market to nutrition in Kenya

Background: The dairy sector in Kenya is an important part of the agricultural GDP of the country. Its legal framework was reformed in 2004 to address the economic importance that the informal sector (i.e. trading on raw milk) had for smallholders’ producers. However, this reform was accused of being a pro-poor policy instead of focusing on the development of the formal dairy sector. In recent years, there has been pressure to go back to the pre-2004 regulatory system and to illegalize the raw milk trade. An aspect that has been absent from the discussion is the contribution that the informal market has to households’ nutrition. The contribution of this paper is to address this shortcoming using the most recent Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey for 2015–16. Results: The results indicate that the rural annual milk consumption (70.2 L) surpasses that of urban areas (68.8 L). These values are different to those found in the literature. County consumption varies depending on the availability of milk, which appears associated to the production capacity and the climate of the region. However, regardless of the region unpacked milk is the most consumed dairy item representing 72 per cent of the total countrywide; 84 per cent of the rural total and 55 per cent of the urban area. Conclusions: The results indicate that the sector provides significant nutrition especially to poor economic groups. Therefore, attempting to ban the informal sector would have negative consequences for Kenya's food security, impacting mostly on the nutritional security of low-income households. In addition, the nutritional aspects that the informal dairy sector provides need to be considered alongside the economic ones in future debates regarding regulatory reforms of the sector.