The USA government announced that it will support the Kenyan livestock industry with US$20mn aid through its Kenya Semi-Arid Livestock Enhancement Support (K-SALES) project
The Kenyan Ministry of Livestock said in a statement that the K-SALES project aims to integrate producers of cows, goats and sheep into a formal market to grow their commercial production.
Robert Godec, USA’s ambassador to Kenya, said, “The project will be implemented in three years and will include programmes for facilitating farmer field schools, improving infrastructure, facilitating lending, providing training in post-harvest handling and processing. This will develop the business capacity for farmer cooperatives and producer associations.”
Godec further noted that agro-pastoralists living in Kenya’s semi-arid regions struggle to survive in the face of unreliable access to water, drought, livestock diseases and limited inputs and services.
“We hope that this support for livestock producers and related businesses will help Kenya on the path to prosperity,” he said.
The project is expected to benefit 300,000 livestock dependant households, 60,000 livestock producers and about 3,200 agribusinesses, added the statement.
Felix Koskei, agriculture cabinet secretary of Kenya, said, " Further in efforts to strengthen the livestock industry, Kenyan Ministry is in the process of reviewing the livestock policy to realign the industry with the changing business environment. The Ministry is also in the process of coming up with the livestock masterplan, which will set the roadmap for the next decade in the vibrant livestock revolution.”
