Farmers in Kajiado swap cows for goats resistant to drought

For many years, cattle have been the big deal for farmers in Kajiado County. They offer a status symbol of wealth and power. The more heads of cattle one owned the better; it meant more pride and influence.

So revered are the animals that the average cattle herd size for nomads is around 50, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), but herds are combined for purposes of security, pasture management and labour management.

Increasingly fierce, frequent and lengthy dry spells have, however, made raising cattle harder in Kajiado, forcing many farmers to rethink this old tradition amid massive loss due to drought and disease outbreaks.

Last year alone James Leposo lost 106 heads of cattle to drought and an outbreak of the contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) disease.

His case was desperate and representative of the big dilemma facing thousands of farmers in the county who have so far resisted a switch to other ventures that are more resistant to drought and disease.

Experts at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) says the effects of climate change cannot be wished away by farmers and urges them to diversify to other more weather-tolerant types of animals.

One way of diversifying incomes and reducing risk, researchers say, is for farmers to raise fewer cattle and more drought-resistant animals such as chickens and goats. Goats, sheep and chickens are considered “animals that can take care of themselves” in food and water scarce conditions.

In desperation, some farmers have over the years driven their livestock to neighbouring countries in search of pasture—further underlining the pressures of livestock rearing in wake of frequent cycles of dry-spells.

A part from requiring lesser quantity of feed, smaller livestock such as goats are easier to sell in the market and save farmers from huge losses especially during outbreak of drought and disease.

“It is very easy for farmers to sell off goats as opposed to cows because it is easy to find someone to buy them at Sh5,000 for instance as opposed to getting someone to buy a cow at Sh40,000,” notes Dr Hezron Wesonga, a vet at Kalro.

According to Ministry of Agriculture, Kenya has 18 million cattle, 27 million goats, 17 million sheep, 2.8 million camels and two million donkeys. About 70 per cent of the national livestock herd is held in arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) such as Kajiado where pastoralism is mostly practised on communal grazing lands.

Daniel Sadera from Olonyorok, Kajiado who also lost his cows to drought and the CBPP disease has now shifted to rearing sheep and goats. 

He says that cattle farmers are struggling with high cost of medicine and feeds owing to the impact of the frequent famine and outbreak of disease.

“The government needs to intensify its attention to goat and sheep farming like the way it has been supporting other agriculture subsectors such as coffee and tea where great research has helped to improve production,” he added.

Farmers in northeastern Kenya have also been shifting from cattle rearing in favour of more drought and disease-resistant camels whose milk has also become popular in most urban areas in the country including Nairobi.

Drought can wipe out between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of cattle herds, according to industry estimates, compared to a 10 to 16 per cent mortality in camel herds. Besides, a well-kept camel can produce four to five times the volume of milk as a local cow.

Even as Kajiado farmers shift to goat rearing, some environmentalists are calling for an overall control of all livestock populations globally, citing their contribution to climate change.

Livestock is estimated to emit 7.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) per annum, the FAO says, representing 14.5 per cent of all human-induced emissions.

The UN agency says beef and milk production account for the majority of emissions, respectively contributing 41 and 19 per cent of the sector’s emissions.

While pig and poultry rearing contribute respectively nine per cent and eight per cent to the sector’s emissions.

It points out that the main sources of emissions are: feed production and processing (45 per cent of the total – with nine per cent attributable to the expansion of pasture and feed crops into forests), enteric fermentation from ruminants (39 per cent), and manure decomposition (10 per cent). The remainder is attributable to the processing and transportation of animal products.

“Possible interventions to reduce emissions are mainly based on technologies and practices that improve production efficiency at animal and herd levels. They include better feeding practices, animal husbandry and health management” FAO says in a report.

“Manure management practices that ensure the recovery and recycling of nutrients and energy contained in manure, and energy savings and recycling along supply chains, are further mitigation options” it adds.