- The county government has lined up several activities which include modernising the county demonstration farm near Kajiado town.
- He said his government will establish feedlots in each subcounty, which will be used to train farmers.
Image: KURGAT MARINDANY.
Governor Joseph Lenku on Wednesday urged Kajiado residents to take advantage of the ongoing rains to plant and conserve livestock feed for future use.
“I further implore all residents to harvest and conserve rainwater as guided by the Kajiado County Rain Water Harvesting Act of 2020,” he said.
In a meet-the-people tour of Loitokitok town, the governor told journalists that to revive the economic status of livestock keepers, his government is enhancing new interventions to promote meat, milk and leather value chains.
“The upcoming Kajiado County Aggregation and Industrial Park will create more market linkages for both local and export markets and therefore enhance household incomes,” he said.
Under the meat value chain, his government has lined up several activities which include modernising the county demonstration farm near Kajiado town.
“We are set to revamp and modernise the farm through the establishment of feedlots, upscaling livestock feed production and conservation through mechanisation,” he said
Additionally, the governor said, his government shall have a livestock breed improvement section.
“We shall restore the glory of the demonstration farm and make it what it ought to be - a centre for training on modern and emerging farming practices in a competitive livestock global space,” the governor said.
He said his government will establish feedlots in each subcounty, which will be used to train farmers.
This, he said, is to strengthen the existing livestock marketing infrastructure within the county.
“We shall partner with stakeholders in food security and the livestock value chain to take new technologies closer to the people,” he said.
Lenku said a carefully managed animal disease control ecosystem will make the county livestock products acceptable to the sensitive export market by increasing their quality.
The creation of disease-free zones remains a key area of focus for the county government, Lenku said.
The governor revealed that a total of 105,000 head of cattle valued at Sh5.2 billion were vaccinated in June this year.
He said a further 421,561 animals including cattle, sheep and goats have been vaccinated against various diseases in the last two months.
“Sadly, we are unable to supply enough milk to the population that is within the county. We are importing milk from neighbouring counties. This is unacceptable, we have all we need to produce enough milk not only for our domestic use but also for export,” the governor said.
He said to address this low-hanging fruit in the county’s economic emancipation, his government is determined to increase and operationalise milk aggregation and processing centres through the dairy cooperative societies at the ward and subcounty level.
The biggest challenge remains the county’s dependence on rainfall patterns for animal feeds.
He said the time has come to adopt new methods of feed production to ensure a steady supply of milk throughout the year.
Milk, he said, besides providing a steady income to the county farmers, is also an invaluable source of nutrition at the household level.
“Soon, the county will launch a mini dairy processing unit at the Maasai Women Dairy Cooperative Society, constructed and equipped in partnership with one of our key stakeholders, Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Programme,” the governor said.
He said through the Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme and the county government, Loitokitok mini dairy is constructing and equipping a processing unit which will be launched soon.
“We are in talks with the national government to support us in supplying 25 coolers to 25 dairy cooperative societies across the county,” he said.
This is meant to increase milk supply to the upcoming Kajiado County Aggregated Industrial Park, which is under construction.