Sh1.35bn abattoirs to ease marketing headache for livestock farmers in arid areas
Northern Kenya is set to reap from the ongoing construction of abattoirs and tanneries around the country that are expected to provide ready market for livestock, hides and skins.
The slaughterhouses will give a big boost to farmers around Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana and Garissa, Wajir, Samburu, Laikipia and Moyale.
The Ministry of Livestock Development has earmarked Sh1.35 billion for the construction of up to five slaughterhouses to beef up export earnings from livestock products.
“These facilities will help traders to shift from selling live animals to processed meat products in higher earnings,” said Dr Mohammed Abdi Kuti, the minister for Livestock Development.
Cattle-keepers in the region have not been able to successfully market their products in main urban areas where demand is high and in the export market due to lack of support services.
The abattoirs are being built in the arid and semi-arid areas of West Pokot, Isiolo, Garissa, Wajir and Lokichoggio which supply more than 40 per cent per cent of the country’s total livestock demand, especially for beef, mutton and goat meat.
Data from the Kenya Investment Promotion Agency (KIA) shows that rangeland cattle constitute 34 per cent of the national herd.
The region has 29 per cent of the total cattle in the country at 2.1 million and 37 per cent of all the goats at 3.1 million.
It also has 2.1 million sheep which represent 33 per cent of these animals in the country and 694 camels which is 42 per cent of the national population.
The proposal is to establish the main abattoir at Isiolo town, which is expected to slaughter 150 cattle and 200 goats and sheep in a day at an estimated cost of Sh656 million.
The ministry is also building 14 satellite slaughterhouses at Sh25 million each in North Eastern and Rift Valley provinces to act as collection points and market for the produce.
These are expected to increase returns on investment by value addition and also link producers to markets. The 19 abattoirs will be completed in the next one year and will complement private, municipal and KMC slaughterhouses.
“The beneficiaries will include livestock herders from the ASAL districts of Northern Kenya, animal traders, and the unemployed youth in the area,” said Ken Manyala, the business development manager at KIA.
It will also open up the region that has for long been seen as wasteland.
The slaughterhouses are a step towards achieving the Vision 2030 goal that calls for innovative, commercially-oriented and modern farming.
Statistics show that the livestock sub-sector accounts for 12 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and employs more than half of the labour force in the agricultural sector .
Earnings from exported food and live animals grew 24 per cent to Sh1.14 billion in 2010 compared to Sh920 million a year earlier.
Kenya’s major livestock export markets are the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudan, and Egypt.
The minister said increased pirate attacks along the Indian Ocean coast have forced the country to stop livestock exports to Mauritius owing to this state of insecurity.
The are also roads under construction such as the Isiolo-Merille (136km) and Marsabit-Turbi(122km )and Lewa-Isiolo, the latter being new road linking Isiolo and Garissa.
These will help in the importation of cattle from Ethiopia and Southern Sudan and transportation of processed hides and skins and animals for slaughter and to the markets.
The project is also banking on huge cattle population from Southern Sudan to feed the abattoirs and tanneries in the long-term.
Kenya’s meat export fetches high prices because it is organic. Most exporting countries, however, rear their livestock in enclosures, feeding them on factory foods and chemicals which make them unfit for consumption.
Increased awareness on good eating habits has since raised demand for organic meat especially in the developed markets.
But the region faces other challenges such as lack of water.
This will need bigger investment in dams and rainwater harvesting.
The area also has insufficient road network despite ongoing construction.
Kenya is building six tanneries to boost processing of leather following a 600 per cent growth in exports of hides and skins last year compared to 2010.
The Kenya Leather Development Council (KLDC) said it would put up tanneries in six towns including Garissa, Isinya, Mogotio, Wote and Kajiado at a cost of Sh150 million
Increase supply
“These abattoirs will increase the supply of the raw materials for the tanneries,” said Dr Mwinyihija Mwinyikione, the chief executive of the KLDC. For instance the main abattoir at Isiolo will produce 523,000 tonnes of raw salted hide in a year.
This will increase the number of tanneries from the current 13 to 19 thereby raising leather exports while supporting local shoe manufacturing.
In the 2005/2006 financial year, the government increased export taxes on hides and skins to 40 from 20 per cent to encourage value addition locally—discouraging tanners from exporting the raw material. It also waived import taxes on inputs for the industry.
The planned resort city in Isiolo and other towns are also set to boost markets for meat and its by-products .
The ministry is also striving to make the area safe enough to allow for the creation of livestock disease- free zones.
The European Union banned Kenya from exporting beef to the continent based on safety standards and hygiene concerns arising from the state of insecurity in the northern parts of the country.
This has affected the pace of creating livestock disease-free zones acceptable to the Eurozone market.
Kenya has since been seeking to grow its markets in the Middle East and Asia.
