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Drop in milk supply sparks high prices

Friday September 17 2021
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Milk vendors say a drop in production has seen an increase in prices. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA

By LEONCE MUVUNYI

City dwellers are digging deeper into their pocket to afford milk due to drop in supply. Milk value chain players indicate that following the milk production declining as the dry season effects bite, the milk production has drastically gone down, thus the supply in Kigali city.

According to a spot check by Rwanda Today, multiple milk sell points, a buttermilk litter has increased to Rfw700 from Rwf600, while the fresh milk goes for Rwf450 a litter from Rwf350.

“Milk supply has drastically gone down. Sometimes the daily or twice a week supplies are coming in short. We are getting around 800 litres within three or four days against 2,000 litres that we used to get within that period and most of the supplies are coming through Iyange,” a milk kiosk keeper in Kacyiru, who preferred to not be mentioned.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources figures, the country counts around 1.4 million of population cattle, which produce around one billion litres of milk every year.

Unlike the Inyange milk centres, most of the milk hawkers who deal with lower grade milk have now gone dry for at least a month as the milk shortage supply bites.

For instance, While Nyagarate district produces over 100, 000 litres of milk every day in good seasons, the production has dropped below 40, 000 litter in the last three consecutive seasons.

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“We are almost dry. On daily basis, I am getting around 20 litres against over 100 litres that I used to get every single day. Hawkers are rarely getting enough to supply around the milk kiosks we have been working with,” Jean Damascene Maniraguha, a milk hawker in Kigali told Rwanda Today.

According to the players in the milk value chain, the milk shortage in the Kigali city has been exacerbated with numerous factors, including milk consumption within the rural areas.

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