30 animal feeds firms close shop in Kenya in two months

Nairobi. Thirty animal feed manufacturers have closed down in a span of two months as a shortage of raw materials and a sharp decline in demand from farmers pushed them out of business, says the Association of Kenya Feed Manufacturers (Akefema).

Manufactures are grappling with a tight supply of important ingredients such as soya and sunflower cakes, whose prices have more than doubled after Zambia - which was Kenya’s key source market - imposed a ban on exports.

Shortage of these ingredients has seen to the price of feeds - especially poultry feeds - shoot up week on week, with a 50-kilogramme bag of Unga Limited layers marsh now retailing at Ksh2,850 (about Sh 59,800), up from Ksh2,750 (about Sh57,700) last week.

Fifteen of the 30 firms shut down in the last one month, alone, creating a huge deficit of animal feeds in the market, and pushing up costs.

“So far, the number of millers that have shut down have reached 30, with 15 of them closing in the last one month,” said John Gathogo, publicity chairman of Akefema.

The price of a 70-kilogramme bag of dairy meal went up from Ksh2,500 (about Sh 52,500) in August last year to Ksh3,400 (about Tsh71,000) currently. Chick marsh is retailing at Ksh4,200 (about Sh88,000), up from Ksh3,250 (about Sh68,200), while layers mash now sells at Ksh3,800 (about Sh79,800), up from Ksh3,100 (about Sh65,000).

The high costs of feeds force farmers to cut down on feeds as they seek to avoid the high expenses involved.

Zachary Munyambu of Kiambu Farmers Cooperative Society says only 430 of the group’s 750 members are still in business - with the rest having shut down.

“A lot of our members have closed business, as running a poultry farm has become unsustainable because of the high costs of feeds,” said the farmer.

Millers’ quest to have government allow them to ship in genetically-modified (GM) yellow maize and soya was dealt a blow after the government said the ban that is still in place does not warrant importations.

The processors had requested the government to allow importation of the two items in order to ease the current costs of raw materials.

The cost of soya has doubled from Ksh65 (about Sh1,360) a kilo in August last year to Ksh130 (about Sh2,730) currently, while the sunflower meal cost has gone up from Ksh25 (about Sh525) to Ksh35 (about Sh735) a kilo. Sunflower meal prices have gone up from Ksh25 (about Sh525) to Sh35 (about Sh735) a kilo.