Dairy partners in Kenya meet to discuss increased productivity, reduced emissions

Julianna White(CCAFS Low Emissions Agriculture)

Kenya's State Department of Livestock has revised livestock, veterinary and dairy policies and created a dairy master plan and implementation strategy to increase dairy productivity - and reduce emissions.

The government of Kenya is working with partners to develop a dairy Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA). The dairy NAMA aims to transform Kenya’s dairy sector to a low-emission development pathway, while improving the livelihoods of 227,000 dairy producing households across the country, writes Susan Onyango in her recent blog post on the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) blog. She adds that it is anticipated that productivity improvements will yield an additional 6.6 billion litres of milk per annum, reaching over 30 million consumers.

In addition to increased production and employment opportunities, the dairy NAMA will trigger a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and benefit climate resilience. Further, sustainable pasture management and agro-forestry will boost soil and above ground carbon stocks, soil health will be improved and the resilience of natural grasslands and livestock to climate change will be enhanced.

All these efforts are geared towards ensuring increased productivity from the dairy sector, and one of the greatest challenges that will hinder achievement of this will be climate change effects. This therefore calls for the design and implementation of climate-smart policies and strategies,” said Dr. Andrew Tuimur, Principal Secretary for Livestock, at the meeting.

Read the original blog post on the ICRAF blog: Stakeholders move to enhance productivity and efficiency in Kenya’s dairy sector for lower greenhouse gas emissions

Kenya’s dairy NAMA is being developed with support from CCAFS, UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

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