Dairy farmers protest over non-payment

Police stepped in to restore calm after dairy farmers went on the rampage over non-payment of milk deliveries.PHOTO: COURTESY

Police stepped in to restore calm after dairy farmers went on the rampage over non-payment of milk deliveries.

More than 1,500 farmers affiliated to Rongo Dairy Co-operative Society threatened to burn their dairy office in Rongo town if they were not paid Sh1.2 million for milk supplied over the last two months.

Led by their representative, Perez Atieno, the farmers said the delayed payments had caused them financial inconvenience as they could not meet their obligations as parents and guardians.

PAYMENTS NOT PROMPT

“We agreed that our dues were to be paid by the 5th of every month and we do not know why they changed it to the 14th. We have children who were sent home for lack of school fees that we committed to pay from the proceeds of the milk because they were going to do their exams,” she said.

Co-operative chairman Maurice Anyango confirmed that milk payments had not been prompt.

He blamed the delay on the late submission of money from the New Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC), which the co-operative supplies. He said a total of Sh950,000 was owed by KCC.

After the stand-off that lasted over five hours, farmers were paid half their dues and given a promise that the balance would be cleared within a week.

“We bank only 30 per cent of the milk collection cash locally as the rest is supplied to KCC and Brookside, who we have partnered with. This is how we have managed to pay our farmers,” said Mr Anyango.

He took a swipe at local leaders for not providing support to secure pasteurisation and branding machines for the society.

“Our farmers would be packaging their milk locally since we already have a market for milk here,” he said.

The county distributed over 300 dairy cattle to farmers.