The greater Isiolo region in northern Kenya has an estimated camel population of 40,300 camels with a daily milk production of about 50,000 litres. Out of the 50,000 litres only about 5,000 litres (12.5%) is supplied to the main market in Eastleigh in Nairobi. The rest of the milk is consumed in Isiolo town or at the household level. This obviously poses a challenge of moving volumes of milk to high value consumers.
To address this challenge, the focus has been to strategically enhance market efficiency of camel milk; support the camel producers and traders improve the hygiene of the milk and lastly facilitate opening of new markets for camel milk to increase supply.
One of the actors that have been active in this sector is the Anolei Camel Milk Cooperative, located in the Isiolo County, in Northern Kenya.
The Cooperative was officially established in 2010, however it had been operating for fifteen (15) years as women producers self-help group with the aim of collecting camel milk to send it to Nairobi’s Eastleigh Area, the terminal market.
The present case study was developed within the framework of the an IFAD/Procasur project: the Learning Route on Innovative Livestock Marketing from Northern to Eastern Africa that took place in Kenya from the 27th of February to the 9th of March 2012. To achieve the main and specific objectives of the Learning Route, five (5) host cases were identified as best practices and innovations in the region by advisors and experts within the livestock sector. For each host case, the knowledge and learning systematized around specific themes was collected and redacted in a case study document.
[ Originally posted on http://www.cop-ppld.net/cop_knowledge_base ]