Kenyan dairy industry to grow by 53% by 2028 through Nourishing Prosperity Alliance interventions

KENYA – The dairy industry in Kenya is projected to grow by 53% by the year 2028, with an average of 10% annual growth year over year as a result of interventions by the Nourishing Prosperity Alliance: Forage for Animal Growth in East Africa (NPA-Forage).

Nourishing Prosperity Alliance (NPA) is an innovative coalition of private agricultural firms, research institutions and non-governmental organisations that aims to increase the productivity and incomes of small-scale dairy farmers in Ethiopia and Kenya.

According to the statistics by the coalition, the potential 53% growth in the dairy sub-sector would translate to about half a million small-scale farmers producing 3.4 billion litres of milk from a total herd of 2 million animals.

The commercial value of this growth, based off on the initial success of the pilot that took place between 2020 and 2023, is about Ksh 156 billion in total revenue for small-scale dairy farmers.

Ian Mutua Muthama, NPA-Forage Country Lead Technical Manager, highlighted that poor animal nutrition is a key factor in low milk productivity. He explained that by establishing a market for nutritious and cost-effective forage, the dairy industry is expected to grow by 16% this year, 26% next year, and up to 53% by 2028.

“This growth will be measured through various parameters, including the amount of milk produced by each cow, the number of farmers adopting NPA’s nutritious forage techniques, and the overall commercial benefit accrued to both farmers and forage sellers,” he said.

Additionally, data by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicates that poor animal nutrition contributes to a milk supply deficit of 4.42 billion litres annually in Kenya, equivalent to Ksh 169 billion in unrealised dairy sector revenue.

Brenda Rono, NPA-Forage’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager for Kenya, stated that the initiative is already demonstrating tangible results.

She noted that the pilot project, conducted between 2020 and 2023, along with the achievements from the first year in 2024, confirm that the efforts are not just aspirational.

According to her, dairy farmers are shifting their perspectives and practices regarding animal nutrition, leading to improved milk yields. She also emphasised that farmers are being trained to cultivate nutritious, climate-adapted forage both for their own livestock and for commercial purposes.

NPA convenes stakeholders across the animal feeds and nutrition market system to address market bottlenecks by co-investing in early forage market development.

The founding partners of NPA include Land O’Lakes Venture37 (Venture37), Forage Genetics International (FGI), Corteva Agriscience, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), who have implemented a successful proof-of-concept pilot of the NPA model in Kenya.

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