State now starts building livestock yard at Lamu port
Livestock handlers escort goats to the Auction yard during the 2017 Mombasa International Show held at Mkomani area on 31st August 2017. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NMG
The yard is part of the Sh3 billion Bar’goni Livestock Pre-Export Quarantine project aimed at boosting the export of live animals.
Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said the livestock export project aims at harnessing the potential of arid and semi-arid areas where livestock production is the economic mainstay.
In 2021, the country exported Sh200 million worth of livestock with the Middle East being the main market.
The government has started construction of a marshalling yard at the new Lamu port in Kililana, Lamu West constituency.
The yard is part of the Sh3 billion Bar’goni Livestock Pre-Export Quarantine project aimed at boosting the export of live animals.
Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said the livestock export project aims at harnessing the potential of arid and semi-arid areas where livestock production is the economic mainstay.
Mr Munya noted that apart from the coastal counties of Lamu, Tana River and Kilifi, areas such as Garissa, Wajir and Mandera will also supply animals for export.
“We have been allocated berth one at the Lamu Port to use as the terminal to export livestock, due to its proximity with the marshalling yard. It is being designed in such a way to at least ensure it can hold up to 50,000 animals in one take,” said Mr Munya.
He said the national government, besides investing heavily in the livestock export segment at the Lamu port, will also invest in ensuring that animal laboratories are set up in Lamu to supplement those already built in Mariakani and Garissa to assist in animal disease control.
One of such facilities is the Witu Satellite Laboratory in Witu, Lamu West.
Other intended facilities and associated livestock infrastructure in Lamu include the building of standard disease-control veterinary fences, livestock holding pens with associated gates, livestock housing and feeding troughs equipment as well as water and electricity connections.
There will also be feeding storage housing, mixing machinery, livestock loading and offloading ramps, staff housing among other infrastructure.
The works on all the facilities are set to be ready before June this year.
“We expect that within four months the marshalling yard, which will be used for export of livestock, will be ready and investors looking to invest in the sector through export will be able to use the Lamu Port. With such a facility in place, it will generally improve the livestock export business sector not only in Lamu but across the country,” said CS Munya.
Apart from the Lamu port marshalling yard, plans are also ongoing to demarcate at least 30,000 acres of land belonging to the Livestock Marketing Division (LMD) in the Bar’goni area as a holding zone for livestock that will then be exported through the Lamu port to foreign markets.
In 2021, the country exported Sh200 million worth of livestock with the Middle East being the main market.
