Kenya Dairy Board head retires, board appoints acting MD

Long serving Kenya Dairy Board managing director Machira Gichohi has retired. Gichohi left office early this week following the expiry of his contract.

The board appointed Humphrey Maina, who has been the board finance manager as the acting manager until a substantive head is appointed.

Maina has been with the board for the last 13 years. Gichohi has been at the helm of the board since 2003.

Announcing the new changes, the board vice-chairman Everett Wafula, observed that Machira has steered the industry to tremendous growth leading to positive impact on both the household income and national economy.

“Gichohi has more than 20 years corporate experience in financial and strategic management, having worked in a number of corporate organisations,” said Mr Wafula.

Wafula confirmed that Gichohi will continue to serve the board as a consultant.

Machira has left the industry at a time when prices of processed milk are still up due to reduced volumes despite the long rains season experienced between mid-April and early June this year.

The industry is generating five billion litres per annum of which approximately 2.5 billion litres is consumed by households and calves, while balance is marketed.

“Approximately 2.5 billion litres is marketed through formal and informal channels. Formal sector handles 600 million litres per annum representing 24 per cent of the market share while informal sector handles about 76 per cent. The industry has 25 licensed processors with combined capacity of 3.5 million litres per day and exports are valued at about Sh1.5 billion per year,” said Gichohi.

Currently, milk producer prices average Sh35 per litre compared to Sh12 per litre in 2002. Number of milk processors have also increased to 25 per cent from 20 in 2005.

Retail price of milk in most supermarkets is still high despite the long rains experienced recently. Early this year, milk processors increased prices to between Sh47 and Sh48 per 500ml packet of milk. Farmers are now being paid between Sh35 and Sh38 per litre.