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"id": 177005,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/177005/?format=api",
"text_counter": 181,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Otichilo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 131,
"legal_name": "Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to comment on this policy. First, I want to congratulate the Minister and the Ministry for coming up with this policy, which is long overdue. I would also like to say that this policy has addressed issues that are extremely important, if we have to revitalise the livestock industry. One of the key issues that this policy has addressed is disease control. This is an issue that has been commented upon extensively by all hon. Members; so, I will not spend a lot of time on it. But I want to say that this is the fundamental issue in the livestock industry. The Ministry must put a lot of emphasize on this. This is what has led to the breakdown, or collapse, of the livestock industry. So, the issue of disease control is extremely important. When this policy is implemented, the Ministry should take up this issue and bring back the services by the Government in disease control. Most of the cattle dips throughout the country have collapsed. For example in Emuhaya, all the 40 cattle dips that were there collapsed. Even the dairy industry in the constituency collapsed, because the local people were unable to run the cattle dips. So, that is an area that the Ministry should take very seriously. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another area that I want to highlight is that of animal feeds. There are many companies which have come up with various animal feeds, whose quality is not known. Some of those animal feeds are sold without quality assurance. This is an area that this policy has addressed, and I think the Ministry should take very serious interest in it to ensure that quality assurance of animal feeds is attained, and where possible regulated, because the prices are determined by the people who manufacture those feeds. Another area that I am happy with in this policy is that of establishing a drought early warning system for the livestock industry in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). This is an area that has been lacking. I know that efforts have been made to set up a drought early warning system in ASALs areas. I would strongly support that the Ministry works on it. With modern technology, we can establish a very efficient early warning system in those areas, and be able to monitor and know weather there is to be drought and its impact. With the use of satellite remote sensing technology, we can know the environmental conditions of ASALs areas every 30 minutes. Therefore, when drought strikes and with the modern technology and weather forecasting, we can give information on the status of the environment in terms of drought, three months in advance. So, this can allow the Ministry to plan ahead in terms of when we are expecting drought. The Ministry can also plan for the sale of livestock in those areas so that we do not allow unnecessary losses of animals because we have not planned. So, this is an area that the Ministry needs to take care of and the institutional framework that will allow this early warning system to function. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other area that I would like again to highlight because it is very important, is the recognition by this policy that there are other emerging livestock species in the livestock industry. These include the rearing of wildlife species like guinea fowls, quails, ostrich, crocodiles, butterflies, snakes, chameleons and so on. This is a very important addition to the livestock industry. Some of this farming that is coming up is very lucrative in terms of foreign exchange or exports. So, I would want the Ministry to liaise very closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) so that they can come up with a harmonised policy because as one of the hon. Members has said, this policy is not in harmony with the wildlife policy that is current and the one that has been proposed. So, there will be need for the Ministry of Livestock Development to work very closely with the KWS to see that this aspect of emerging livestock species is harmonised clearly with the December 3, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3853 wildlife policy which I know has been formulated and will soon be tabled in this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one other area that I want to highlight and which has been lacking and has caused the collapse in the livestock industry is the area of research and extension. This is an area that has been lacking. More emphasis on research has been placed on crops and very little on livestock. It is for this reason that most of the livestock breeds have not been improved over a long time because there are very few livestock breeding programmes because of lack of modern research facilities. So, I am very excited that this policy is proposing the establishment of the Livestock Research Institute which is very important. I would like to recommend that this Livestock Research Institute should be located in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) and not Nairobi so that most of the research on livestock should be carried out in those areas. I would like to also recommend that the Ministry should adopt modern research technologies. I must say that for a long time, the Ministry of Livestock Development has shied off from modern technologies and that is why they have never had good livestock census for many years. This is because the Ministry has shied off from adopting new technologies in livestock research and monitoring. I am aware that livestock censuses have been carried out in this country since 1977 but because the Ministry of Livestock Development has rejected to adopt the technologies that are being used in livestock census, most of these censuses have never been used by the Ministry of Livestock and yet most of this information is around. We have a fully-fledged Government department called Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing which is well equipped with aircraft and modern technologies and they carry out a lot of animal surveys throughout the whole country but these statistics are not utilised. So, I hope with the establishment of a research institute, the Ministry is going to embrace new research technologies to ensure that enough and adequate scientific information is generated to be able to improve livestock production in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I want to highlight the issue of capacity building in the Ministry. Due to the policy that the Government adopted whereby the recruitment of veterinary officers and animal health officers was abandoned, the Ministry today is a skeleton of itself in terms of human resources. So, this is an area where the Ministry will have to pay special attention to see that capacity building is enhanced. The recruitment of veterinary doctors should be enhanced. The recruitment of animal health technicians is an issue that we discussed this morning and should be given top priority so that most of our research officers should be well trained to the highest level possible to be able to carry out proper research in this very important area. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I want also to highlight the issue that has been covered in this policy Paper with regard to animal welfare. This is an aspect that is greatly ignored. Most of the animals are handled in very deplorable conditions particularly when they are being transported from one end to another and when held in holding grounds before they are taken to abattoirs. This is an area that needs to be given special attention so that the animals are well handled before they are taken to abattoirs or any other places. So, with those comments, I wish to support this policy Paper and hope that the Ministry is going to implement it to the letter. Thank you."
}