Gov’t urged to increase funding to livestock sector

Kenya’s livestock sector contributes 12% of the country’s GDP and supports the livelihoods of more than 10 million Kenyans. However, the sector remains grossly underfunded from both the national and county government levels.

Existing reports indicate that the agriculture sector in general is grossly underfunded. For instance, during the financial years 2017/18 and 2018/19, allocations to the sector hardly reached 10%.

This is not sufficient for sustainable development of the sector as a whole.

Kenya Markets Trust will on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 a research report dubbed ‘Political Economy Analysis of Kenya’s Livestock Sector’, which delves deep into the opportunities and constraints of Kenya’s livestock sector.

The research was conducted across five counties in Kenya, whose predominant economic activity is livestock production and marketing of livestock products. The study analyses the existing political and decision-making processes and power play amongst various actors and identifies key constraints and challenges across the livestock value chain.

The livestock sub-sector is key to the realization of Kenya’s long-term objectives of Vision 2030 and most recently, the government’s ‘Big Four Agenda’, where value addition and food and nutritional security are top priorities.

This study is important in two respects: Firstly, the demand for meat, hides and skins is anticipated to increase in the longterm owing to population growth, rapid urbanization and improvements in economic wellbeing of a significant population. This calls for the need to address existing institutional and regulatory constraints that hinder sustainable growth and development of the sector.

Secondly, the livestock industry has a high degree of vertical linkages with upstream and downstream industries. It is a significant user of products from feeds, drugs, vaccines and equipment-manufacturing industries and is a major provider of raw materials for agro-processing industries, thereby creating opportunities for employment and improving household incomes.

Some of the findings of the report reveal that the livestock sector remains grossly under-funded and inadequately staffed with technical personnel. This affects the budgeting, inspection, supervision, enforcement and ultimately, effective implementation of various programmes and activities. Additionally, the market structures for livestock and livestock products remain uncompetitive with low returns to the actors along the entire value chain from production to consumption.

The conflicting interests and power plays between the different levels of government, pastoralists, aggregators, traders, retailers and consumers weaken the prospects for sustained growth and development of the sector.

The Permanent Secretary, State Department of Livestock, Mr. Harry Kimutai will be the Chief Guest. Following the dissemination of the findings of the research, there will be an engaging discussion from key industry players across the livestock sector value chain who will give their input into the research findings.