In any supermarket in Nairobi right now, a shopper looking for a carton of milk might struggle to find any familiar brand on the shelves, and discover that the price for the available milk has climbed just as the cost of feeding a family has become harder to manage. Hundreds of kilometres away, a dairy farmer in central Kenya faces a different version of the same problem: without reliable rain, there is less grass for livestock, feed is costlier, amounting to less milk to sell.
Now, president William Ruto has proposed an unconventional response to this problem. Instead of relying so heavily on cattle, Kenya should consider importing buffaloes for milking and developing improved camel breeds that could produce more milk, he said at the Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit at Nairobi’s Jamhuri Showground on October 8.
“I had told the Livestock Principal Secretary to bring in good breeds of camels and buffaloes,” Ruto said. “I hear buffaloes also produce a lot of milk in India. If others are milking them, why can’t we do the same? What is wrong with that? We need to diversify our sources of milk.”
The proposal reflects a practical question confronting Kenya’s food system: if drought is making conventional dairy farming less reliable, can animals adapted to different environments help keep milk flowing?
The answer is potentially yes, but with important qualifications. Buffaloes could add a valuable source of milk, and camels already provide a substantial quantity in Kenya’s arid regions.
Neither, however, offers a quick fix for a shortage driven by declining feed availability, water stress and the cost of maintaining livestock. Importing animals without addressing those constraints risks creating a new production system that suffers from many of the same problems as the existing one.
The urgency is measurable. Kenya’s formal milk supply has fallen during a period when drought has reduced the availability of pasture and pushed up the cost of animal feed. Deliveries to processors declined from 84.4 million litres in June 2026 to 81.3 million litres in July, a drop of 3.7%, according to the State Department for Livestock Development. Preliminary indications in September pointed to a further decline in August.
The shortage is particularly disruptive in a country with an established dairy industry and a large domestic market. Kenya produced approximately 5.33 billion litres of milk in 2024, worth $2.7 billion or 352.1 billion shillings, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ National Agriculture Production Report 2025. The volume represented an increase of 1.8% from 2023, while the value rose by 12.6%. Milk intake by processors reached 908.4 million litres.
The contrast between rising annual production and a sudden shortage illustrates a vulnerability in the system. National output can increase over a year while supplies tighten in particular months, especially when rainfall determines how much milk farmers can produce and how much they can afford to sell.
Ruto’s response is to widen the country’s options. Buffalo milk is widely consumed in India and Pakistan, while camels have long supplied milk to pastoral communities across northern and eastern Kenya. The president is betting that expanding the range of animals used for commercial dairy production could make the industry more resilient to weather shocks.
The question is whether importing a new species and improving another can deliver enough milk, quickly enough, to make a meaningful difference.
Buffaloes are not an experimental source of milk. They are central to the dairy economies of South Asia, where specialised breeds have been developed for milk production over generations.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations identifies the river buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, as the type primarily used for dairy production. Swamp buffaloes, by contrast, have historically been kept mainly as draught animals and generally produce less milk. That distinction matters if Kenya proceeds with imports: selecting an animal simply because it is a buffalo would not be sufficient. The breed, its genetics and its suitability for local conditions would determine the results.
Buffalo milk has a strong commercial advantage: its composition. A review published through the FAO’s agricultural research information system reports average fat content of approximately 7.5%, compared with about 3.3% in cow’s milk. The higher concentration of fat and other milk solids makes buffalo milk particularly useful for producing butter, ghee, cheese and other dairy products.
For Kenya, this could create an opportunity that extends beyond filling supermarket shelves with drinking milk. Dairy processors could use buffalo milk to produce higher-value products, potentially giving farmers access to markets where the value of milk depends on its fat and protein content rather than volume alone.
But higher solids content is not the same as higher total milk production. Buffaloes must first be bred, raised, fed, managed and milked under conditions that make commercial production viable. Their milk also needs to enter processing and distribution systems capable of handling it safely.
Research on buffalo dairy production identifies nutrition, reproductive performance, heat stress, animal health and management as important determinants of productivity. A review of the sector published in Animals in 2023 also examined the effects of heat stress on dairy buffaloes and the need for management strategies to protect production in hot conditions.
That presents Kenya with a practical challenge. The country cannot assume that a high-performing breed in India will produce the same results on a Kenyan farm. The animals would need to be evaluated under local conditions, including seasonal temperatures, available water, feed quality, disease exposure and the cost of veterinary services.
Nor would buffaloes necessarily solve the drought problem. The FAO’s small-scale dairy farming manual notes that buffaloes require adequate feed and reliable access to drinking water. Their ability to use some coarse fodders does not eliminate the need for balanced nutrition, especially when milk production is the objective.
If the same drought that has reduced cattle milk production also leaves buffaloes short of feed and water, the new animals could add to farmers’ costs without delivering the expected supply gains.
The camel proposal has a different starting point. Unlike buffaloes, camels are already established in Kenya’s livestock economy, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas where conventional cattle production can be difficult.
The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization says the country’s livestock sector produces approximately 340 million litres of camel milk annually, alongside milk from cattle and goats. KALRO describes livestock as a major contributor to agricultural output, employment and rural livelihoods.
The FAO identifies Kenya as the world’s largest camel milk producer, noting that camels can produce milk from relatively poor-quality feed more effectively than many other dairy animals. In African low-input systems, a yield of around five litres a day can be considered respectable, while lactation may last between eight and 18 months. Actual output varies with breed, feed, health and the season.
Those characteristics make camels attractive in a country where drought repeatedly threatens livestock production. Cattle tend to perform poorly when pasture deteriorates, while camels have evolved to survive in dry environments and travel long distances in search of forage and water.
Yet resilience should not be confused with immunity to drought. A camel that survives harsh conditions may still produce less milk when it lacks sufficient nutrition. That distinction is particularly important if the government’s goal is to expand the volume of milk available to urban consumers rather than simply preserve pastoral herds.
A study published in Veterinary and Animal Science in June 2025 examined the effect of concentrate supplementation on dromedary camels during the dry season in the peri-urban area of Isiolo, Kenya. The researchers identified forage deficits and recurring drought as major constraints on production, examining whether supplementary feed could improve milk yield and quality.
The findings point toward a less dramatic but potentially more immediate intervention: improve the feeding and management of animals Kenya already has before relying on a new generation of imported stock.
Better breeding could still make a difference. Selecting camels for desirable milk-production traits, improving breeding services and recording yields across generations could raise productivity while preserving characteristics that help animals survive in dry environments. But a “new camel breed” is not a production strategy by itself. The government would need to clarify whether it intends to import established high-yielding breeds, introduce selected breeding stock or develop a crossbreeding programme.
Those approaches carry different costs and risks. Crossbreeding, for example, requires evidence that the resulting animals retain useful adaptations while producing more milk. It also requires reliable records, veterinary oversight and a breeding programme sustained over several generations.
Camel milk also has an existing commercial market. It is sold in Nairobi and other towns, providing income to pastoralists and traders who connect remote production areas with urban consumers.
A study published in Preventive Veterinary Medicine in 2018 examined the camel milk supply chains serving Nairobi. It mapped routes from Isiolo, Kajiado and a processing company in the Nanyuki area, finding that the trade was dominated by informal distribution. In the study’s sample, 94% of camel milk reaching Nairobi was traded informally, while 6% came through a formal processing company. The research also identified weaknesses in refrigeration, hygiene and the handling of milk during transport and sale.
The figures describe the market observed during the research period, not necessarily the structure of today’s trade. But the underlying policy challenge remains important: producing more milk does not automatically mean more milk reaches consumers safely.
Expanding camel milk production without investing in collection centres, cooling equipment, transport, testing and processing could enlarge the informal market while leaving food-safety risks unresolved. These investments would also help farmers preserve the value of milk that might otherwise spoil before reaching buyers.
The economics are another consideration. Ruto said camel milk can sell in urban markets for about 180 to 200 shillings per litre, roughly three times the price of cow’s milk, making it an attractive source of income for farmers.
That price difference may encourage production, but it also limits how directly camel milk can address an affordability problem. A premium product can improve farmer incomes and diversify consumer choice without necessarily replacing the cheaper milk used by most households.
If the government’s objective is to increase the total supply of affordable milk, it must consider not only how much each animal produces but also the cost of getting that milk to market.
Kenya’s livestock research institutions have long identified the factors that limit dairy productivity. KALRO lists inadequate feed, high input costs, poor breeding services, disease, weak animal husbandry and limited access to markets among the sector’s constraints.
These problems help explain why importing animals alone is unlikely to provide a rapid solution. New buffaloes would need suitable housing, feed, veterinary care and breeding arrangements. Improved camels would need accessible breeding services, reliable markets and the infrastructure to move milk from remote areas to urban consumers.
There is also a timing problem. A government can import animals more quickly than it can build a productive dairy industry around them. Imported breeding stock must adapt to its environment, reproduce and establish a reliable production record. The impact on national milk supply would depend on how many animals were introduced, their yields, the proportion of females that were lactating and the speed at which the programme expanded.
A credible pilot would therefore need to measure milk output per animal, the cost of feed and water, reproductive performance, veterinary expenses, mortality and the price processors would pay. It should compare the returns from buffaloes and improved camels with the returns from improving existing dairy cattle herds and supporting current camel producers.
The government’s own dairy data underline why such comparisons matter. Kenya’s formal milk deliveries declined in the middle of 2026 even though the country had recorded higher annual production in 2024. That suggests the immediate problem is not necessarily an absence of alternative dairy species, but the vulnerability of production and distribution to seasonal conditions.
Feed reserves, drought-resistant fodder, water infrastructure, improved pasture management and better access to affordable supplements could help existing herds produce more milk during dry periods. These measures would not eliminate drought, but they could reduce the severity of the swings that leave processors short of supplies.
The Agriculture Ministry has already emphasised affordable animal feeds, quality fodder, better milk storage and improved genetics as priorities for the dairy sector. Its November 2024 announcement on the launch of a milk production costs and profitability study described these measures as central to strengthening the industry’s sustainability.
Ruto’s proposal is significant because it challenges the assumption that Kenya’s milk supply must depend overwhelmingly on conventional dairy cattle. Buffaloes could provide milk with higher fat content for specialised products, while camels could expand a production system already adapted to arid landscapes.
But the two proposals serve somewhat different purposes. Buffaloes could open a new dairy segment that requires imported genetics, new husbandry expertise and careful adaptation to local conditions. Camels offer a more immediate opportunity because they are already part of Kenya’s livestock economy, although raising their output will require better breeding, feeding and commercial infrastructure.
Neither species can be expected to compensate automatically for a drought that is affecting the broader livestock sector. The scientific evidence points instead to a combination of animal genetics, nutrition, health management and reliable access to water and markets as the foundation of higher production.
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Mohd Hassan has extensive experience in news gathering, editing, and writing for the newswire industry, Contact – Info@impactnews-wire.com
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