Kenya's milk shortage leaves chai lovers in crisis as drought and supply failures collide

Consumers, particularly low-income families, are forced to reduce milk consumption, add water to milk, or switch to black tea, affecting nutrition and cultural practices.

In Nairobi and across Kenya, the daily ritual of chai — milky, spiced, and shared — has met an unwelcome interruption, as drought-thinned pastures and soaring feed costs have drained the milk supply that sustains both culture and commerce. Formal deliveries to processors fell measurably through the northern hemisphere summer, and what remains on supermarket shelves now commands prices that strain the budgets of ordinary families. Consumer advocates argue the crisis was not simply an act of nature but a failure of foresight — a surplus left unpreserved, a buffer never built. The government is n

Kenya's milk shortage leaves chai lovers in crisis as drought and supply failures collide

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