Efforts are being made to ensure that the country’s milk exports are not interrupted following the recent notice from Kenya that it plans to cut back on imports from Uganda, First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda and Minister for East African Community (EAC) Affairs Rebecca Kadaga has said.

Kadaga says she contacted Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for the East African Community Rebecca Miano and has informed her that if effected, the ban would be damaging to Uganda's dairy industry and the EAC spirit.

She was addressing journalists on Friday (March 10, 2023) during an engagement with the media at the EAC affairs ministry in Kampala. 

“I contacted Miano, who herself had not seen the letter. So, I sent her a copy and she said she is going to handle it,” she said, adding: “So I believe that Madam Miano is going to handle it.”

Dairy Development Authority (DDA) executive director Samson Akankiza also said they have engaged their Kenyan counterparts on the matter.

“Although they didn’t mention it to us, we are working on the issue to reinstate the market,” Akankiza said.

Godwin Tumwebaze, an official at GBK group of companies, said if the ban is implemented, it could affect their prospects of growth. He said they recently submitted an application to export liquid milk to Kenya. 

Ban notice 

In a notice dated March 6, 2023, to all milk importers in Kenya, the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) said it was moving to protect local farmers from external products, as output is expected to increase soon.

“In anticipation of the long rains, the Government has stopped the importation of milk powders to cushion the industry from surplus production and low prices,” a statement signed by KDB managing director Margaret Kibogy says.

She adds that the board will no longer issue new import permits until further notice.

Though the letter does not state it, analysts believe the notice targets imports from Uganda, which until recently, were being blocked from the Kenyan market.

Kenya is Uganda’s major milk market, but the constant barriers have prompted the search for wider markets, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Zambia and Algeria.

Akankiza says for dairy products such as casein, whey protein powder, UHT milk and milk powder, the main destinations have been the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Japan, Oman, USA, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Processed milk accounts for more than 35 per cent of Uganda’s marketed milk, according to DDA. It is not known how much of the milk powder is exported to Kenya.