Transforming Kenyas dairy industry through sustainable consumption and production practices

The Kenyan dairy sub-sector contributes 6–8% of the national GDP but faces challenges including low productivity, fragmented marketing, and significant greenhouse gas emissions, primarily methane. To address these, the Stockholm Environment Institute identifies 20 sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices across the value chain—ranging from silage preparation and artificial insemination to biogas production and automated vending machines—to decouple economic growth from environmental impact. The document recommends that the Kenyan government expand extension services, support research through demonstration farms, and implement the Dairy Industry Regulations of 2020 to streamline standards and pricing.

• The dairy sub-sector is a vital economic driver in Kenya, contributing between 6% and 8% of the national GDP and approximately 15% of the total agricultural sector's GDP.
• Kenya's dairy industry is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, totaling approximately 12.3 million tonnes of CO2-eq, with methane accounting for 96% of these emissions.
• Growth in the sector is currently limited by several systemic issues, including poor disease management, inadequate feeding resources, limited actor skills, and a prevalence of informal trading and marketing systems.
• The research identifies specific SCP practices for feed and breeding to improve productivity, such as silage preparation (anaerobic fermentation of pasture with molasses), feed formulation, artificial insemination, and embryo transplants.
• Resource recovery and renewable energy practices can reduce the sector's carbon footprint and costs; specifically, biogas provides cooking energy and produces bioslurry, which serves as a fertilizer to replace synthetic options.
• Marketing innovations such as automated vending machines can increase farmer returns by eliminating middlemen and reduce environmental pollution by removing the need for packaging.
• To scale these practices, the document recommends that the Kenyan government expand extension services, establish demonstration farms via the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization, and enforce the Dairy Industry Regulations of 2020.

APA

Kwamboka, E., Nyambane, A., Ogeya, M., Takama, T., & Diaz-Chavez, R. A. (2022). Transforming Kenyas dairy industry through sustainable consumption and production practices. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kenyas-dairy-sub-sector-sei2022.028.pdf

Chicago

Kwamboka, Elvine, Anne Nyambane, Mbeo Ogeya, Takeshi Takama, and Rocio A. Diaz-Chavez. Transforming Kenyas dairy industry through sustainable consumption and production practices. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kenyas-dairy-sub-sector-sei2022.028.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{kwamboka2022transforming, author = {Kwamboka, Elvine and Nyambane, Anne and Ogeya, Mbeo and Takama, Takeshi and Diaz-Chavez, Rocio A.}, title = {{Transforming Kenyas dairy industry through sustainable consumption and production practices}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kenyas-dairy-sub-sector-sei2022.028.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }