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dc.contributor.authorHopcraft, Peter
dc.contributor.authorRuigu, George M.
dc.date.accessioned2011-04-12T10:42:59Z
dc.date.available2011-04-12T10:42:59Z
dc.date.issued1976-07
dc.identifier.citationHopcraft, Peter and Ruigu, George M. (1976) Dairy marketing and pricing in Kenya: are milk shortages the consequence of drought or pricing policies?. Discussion Paper 237, Nairobi: Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobien_GB
dc.identifier.urihttps://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/652
dc.description.abstractIn this paper, production, consumption, marketing and pricing of dairy products in Kenya are examined and discussed. It is argued that there are severe irrationalities in the pricing of dairy products and that these have become an important constraint on the industry. At a uniform price between locations, transport costs are hidden and there is excessive stimulation to production far from the consuming areas. At a uniform price between seasons, the far greater production costs in the dry season are not incurred so that dry season milk shortages (annually, blamed on the drought) are now regular features. Wet season surpluses are in the meantime enormous, involving the necessity for substantial processing capacity that remains idle for a good part of each year. Large financial losses are incurred by the Kenya Cooperative Creamery (K.C.C.) in the flush season when twice as much milk must be purchased at the same uniform price. A large percentage of this milk is then used for manufacturing and sold at a net loss. An excessive consumer price for liquid milk is meanwhile maintained which severely inhibits the growth of milk consumption, especially among the poor who would derive the greatest nutritional benefit from increasing their consumption. A large part of the additional supplies in the smallholder areas are going into local consumption. Only when local demand is met at the supply price to K.C.C. can the surpluses from these areas be expected in the formal market. At a seasonally uniform producer price the supply fluctuations between seasons are particularly severe fro these areas. An alternative milk pricing system is proposed that would recognise that neither the production costs nor the financial or social value of additional milk is uniform between seasons and locations. In this system a floor price would be paid for all seasons with an ex post additional payout depending on the proportion of milk intake that is sold as fluid milk.en_GB
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherInstitute for Development Studies, University of Nairobien_GB
dc.relation.ispartofseriesDiscussion Papers;237
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/en_GB
dc.subjectAgricultureen_GB
dc.subjectEconomic Developmenten_GB
dc.titleDairy marketing and pricing in Kenya: are milk shortages the consequence of drought or pricing policies?en_GB
dc.typeSeries paper (non-IDS)en_GB
dc.rights.holderInstitute for Development Studies, University of Nairobien_GB
dc.identifier.blds318135


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