Gendered barriers and opportunities among milk traders in
the informal sector in peri-urban Nairobi
Nelly Njiru1, Alessandra Galiè 1, Jessica Heckert2, Emily Myers2, Silvia Alonso1
1International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
2International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
MoreMilk Project: Mid-Term Project-Wide Meeting, ILRI, 18 June 2019

Background: MoreMILK project
• This study is part of the More Milk project. “MoreMilk:
Making the most of milk” is a five-year project
• Aims to enhance milk safety and child nutrition in peri-
urban Nairobi.
• Focuses on training milk traders to improve their milk
handling (for better consumer safety and nutrition) and business
practices (for improved trader livelihoods).

Background: Informal milk sector in peri-urban
Nairobi, Kenya
• Milk trading is an important source of livelihood: pursued
by (~600,000 households and 365,000 traders)both men and
women (45%)
• Volume: Over 70% milk is sold in informal milk market
(Roesel and Grace, 2014).
• Nature of informal milk trading : buying and selling of raw
milk; No formal pasteurization; Highly susceptible to
contamination
➢Traditional handling and processing processes are followed
• Turnover of operators is high

Research Questions:
• Main research question: ‘What are the gendered
opportunities and constraints in informal milk trading in
peri-urban Nairobi?’
• Sub-questions:
➢‘What are the opportunities offered by dairy trading vis-
à-vis other businesses?’
➢‘What obstacles do you face as a milk trader?
➢‘What obstacles did you face when wanting to improve
your business?

Methodology :
• We conducted a qualitative study in 2017 in Dagoretti, a
peri-urban area of Nairobi, Kenya) comprising of men and
women milk traders:
➢ 6 single-sex focus group discussions
➢ 49 semi-structured individual interviews
➢ 4 key-informant interviews
Participants' selection criteria:
➢Licensed (with/without)
➢Operators of different business types (ATM,milkbars,shops, s/vendor
➢Milk source (own farm, broker, producer, distributor
➢Current/former trader

RESULTS : Informal Milk Trading Value Chain
Role in milk trading Type of retailer Role in retail
business
Type of
premise
Milk producers ➢ Small shop (sells milk with
multiple commodities, 0-2
employees)
➢ Large shop (sells milk with
multiple commodities, 2+
employees)
➢ Milk bar (small premise that
sells milk only)
➢ ATM (small premise that sells
milk through a refrigerated
dispenser)
➢ ATM in a small or large
shop
➢ Retailer without a premise
(sells on the road in a fixed
location or is mobile)
➢ Employee
➢ Business
owner
➢ Owned
premise/
Rented
➢ No Premise
Broker (buys from
producers and sell in bulk
to retailers or distributors)
Distributor (buys bulk
quantities from brokers
and producers and sell to
retailers)
Retailer (sells milk to
consumers for daily use)

Results: Participants characteristics-Men
Women Men
Age: 36yrs; 37yrs
Majority no
license:
14 yes, 24 No; (Majority no license) 24 yes, 10 No (Majority with license)
Marital status: majority married: M=29, S=8 majority married: M=26, S=8
Role in VC:
Retailers=33, P=4, B=1
Various capacities (T, D, B & combination of
nodes hence more lucrative experiences
than women)
➢ Trade both large /small quantities
Business type: 22=Milk + other goods, 14= Milk only 15=milk + other goods, 14=Milk only
Premise: 23 rented, 1 owned 17 rented, 2 owned
Amount: 33.8 L/day (1-250L) 132 L/day (10-1000L)
Business type: 21=ss, 7=SV,4=MB, 4=ATM, 1=OF 9=Small Shop, 4=Large S
Milk source: 20=Brokers, 6=coops, 4=of, 8=diff sources 16=producers, 8=brokers, 4=OF, 6=diff

Results: Opportunities
• Low initial capital investment needed to start (hence
viable/important to women & men -particularly young men
• Lucrative: Yields cash easily: since its sold daily,
1. Especially when purchase price is low
2. Milk is sold in large quantities
3. Milk quality is good
• Can offer quick returns on relatively small investment

Results: Common Constraints (Women &
Younger Men)
• Milk spoilage (Adulterated/contaminated)
➢ Watered down
➢ Augmented with margarine
➢ Via non-hygienic containers
• Fluctuations in milk supply (mostly during dry spells—
December, January, and February—when forage for cows is scarce)

Results: Women Constraints
• Mobility/ safety concerns:
➢ Can’t use motorbikes /matatus during pre-dawn hours
➢ Safety concerns
➢ Can’t sleep out
➢ Restricted from interacting with men outside their family
• Household chores/responsibilities:
• Heavy containers: (aluminum cans)
• Distant sources of milk

Results: Women & youth Constraints
As a consequence women and young men are disadvantaged
in 3 areas
➢ Lower Milk quantity sold:
➢ Poor milk quality: relative to men who purchase from
producers
➢ High purchasing price: many intermediaries; long
delivery time
➢ Mainly occupy final node selling to consumers as
retailers selling mostly in grocery stores and Trade
mostly small quantities

Results: in Summary

Conclusion:
• Informal milk trading has a strong potential to support the
economic empowerment of women milk traders – if the
constraints that women face are addressed
• Milk trading is less lucrative for women than for men who
are also more financially resilient. Women are easily
pushed out of the business.
• The training-certification-marketing intervention is one
way of addressing some of the constraints that women
milk traders face.

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for
International Development
• Project Phase 2 (GAAP2), supported by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA
• Also supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock
including all donors and organizations which globally support
its work through their contributions to the CGIAR syste
It is implemented in a partnership between ILRI and IFPRI
It contributes to the CGIAR Research Program on MoreMilk:
making the most of milk” project
Acknowledgements

This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
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