Description

Abstract: Pastoral income diversification can depend on increasing market involvements. One option is for pastoralists to sell more dairy products to local towns. We used focus-groups involving high-income households, low-income households, managers/owners of hotels and restaurants, and managers of a local milk-processing cooperative in Moyale, Kenya, to answer questions concerning why, how, and where they buy milk, how they assess milk quality, satisfaction with milk quality, and whether milk quality can be improved. All consumers recognize the value of high-quality milk. Higher-income consumers typically procure raw, packaged, or powdered milk at a quality and price they find satisfactory. Problems occur for low-income consumers, however, who must buy raw milk from traders at open-air markets. Traders pool raw milk from many sources and routinely adulterate it with water and other substances prior to sale. Low-income consumers are unsatisfied with the quality of milk they can buy. Discussants offered ideas as to how such problems might be addressed. These include raising awareness on milk- handling procedures and helping consumers organize to affect change in the behavior of traders. Local health authorities also need to be more vigilant about milk-quality enforcement. Some higher- and lower-income consumers said they could pay more for higher-quality milk.