Nairobi, Sept. 13 -- Kenya has a milk problem, and it is not simply about empty shelves. The more troubling problem is that the shelves appear to be telling a very different story from the Government's statistics.

According to data from the State Department for Livestock Development, Kenya has overtaken Egypt to become Africa's leading milk producer, with annual production rising from 4.6 billion litres to 5.4 billion litres.

However, consumers are increasingly encountering milk shortages in shops and supermarkets, while farmers are dealing with the very conditions that should make us question whether this reported growth is as secure as it sounds.

So where is the milk? The answer begins far away from the supermarket shelf, on farms wh...