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| Nairobi: The challenges of urban and peri-urban agriculture,” Voices of the poor” |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
At a crowded junction along the road from Nairobi to Garissa, Jane Wanjiru and Virginia Wairimu chase after the buses, selling milk. Their customers hang from the windows, engulfed in diesel fumes. These two middle-aged ladies have been selling milk at the bus stops for five years to supplement their income, which comes mainly from growing and selling vegetables. They collect milk before dawn at four from dairy farms in Thika district and take it by matatu-Kenya’s informal minibus transport-and then boda-boda, a passenger bicycle, to the road side before the buses roll. Jane’s having a bad morning-only 20 liters sold today. She buys 1 liter at 18 Kenya shillings and sells it for 20.Today she’s made about 0.50 US dollars profit.
Virginia, having done much better, has sold 100 liters, which she bought at 17 shillings and sold at 20.It’s a lot hard work for 300 shillings, about 3.80 US dollars. Both women loose about 100 shillings of that in transport to the market. They sell from six-thirty in the morning and are finished by ten, when they go back home and take care of the household and their small farms. Both women are trying to put kids through school. Between them Virginia and Jane have dozens of plastic jerry cans to carry their milk and they share one of the new more hygienic aluminum milk containers, designed by a CGIAR partnership with local traders and researchers and produced by a local manufacturer. But at a cost of almost 2,000 shillings, they can’t afford more than one. The new cans cost 1,850 shillings to manufacture.” They are worth having,” she says.” It’s good for transport, no spilling.” Over the five years they’ve been doing this they have become good friends. They make an average of 250 shillings a day and for them it is good supplementary income-more than the minimum daily wage in Kenya.
Traditional dairy markets, which handle unpasteurized or “raw” milk, and traditionally processed dairy products such as fermented milk, are behind the dairy boom in many developing countries. In Kenya, where the per capita consumption of milk totals some 100 kilograms annually, traditional milk markets supply over 80 percent of milk sold. Compared to their commercial counterparts, small-scale dairy agents like Virginia and Jane provide cheaper milk to customers while paying better prices to providers. Despite this, public officials concern about the possible health risk of consuming unpasteurized milk have in the past discouraged the country’s indigenous milk markets. Today, Kenya’s dairy development authorities urgently need more reliable information to make judicious pro-poor policies.
In national consultations a wide spectrum of stakeholders supported the project’s policy recommendations, thereby increasing the base of support for milk marketing by and for the poor. These recommendations provide more “carrots” (licensing, training) than “sticks” (policing) to small-scale operators. A new dairy development policy and a revised dairy bill now explicitly recognize the predominance of the raw milk trade in Kenya, its importance to the poor, and the need for regulations and technologies to optimize the quality of raw milk. But while these changes are beginning at government level, the policies may take years to filter down to the Garissa road intersection where milk hawkers work. They are still unlicensed and can still feel harassed by milk regulators.
“If they were licensed, they could sell the milk legally, without fear,” says John Ayoro.”Now any time, they can be pushed off.” And when you are making a run for it from authorities, the plastic jerry cans are a lot lighter than the new aluminum ones.
In a slight twist of circumstances Peter Kamangu, a young milk hawker, reacted to these regulatory constraints by choosing instead an entrepreneurial path and opening a proper milk bar. His consumers are assured of receiving hygienic milk and he also sells a yogurt-like, fermented milk product. But while he makes 500 shillings a day from his small store, high rent is 6,500 shillings a month with electricity and water. So more than 200 of those 500 shillings he earns each day go to overheads.” It’s like I’m almost getting nothing,” he says.” I earned more on the streets.” His story drives home the need for the new policy initiatives to be implemented in order for the poor to progress. The urban dairy market is still large and unregulated. The new policies could result in farmers being able to sell more milk for higher prices and achieve more stable livelihoods.
The wakulima market, in the city center of Nairobi, opens at five in the morning and is empty by noon. Nobody knows how much of the produce sold here is grown in and around the city. The mud and muck underfoot is at least 8 centimeters deep and smells sewage. Behind the gates, bananas, potatoes, pineapples, sukuma wiki-a popular African leafy vegetable-tomatoes, lemons, and oranges are all for sale. It should be, but is not, an appetizing sight. Rather it is dirty and tumultuous, with hawkers yelling and pushcarts being cumbersomely shoved around.” About a third of these farmers use raw sewage for irrigation,” says John. He knows where many of the vegetables come from.
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