15 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I want to start by thanking all the Members who have contributed to this Bill and go straightaway to the issues they have raised regarding the issue of qualifications of the board members. We will address this matter during the Committee of the whole House. That is the issue of qualifications of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chairman of the Board. The composition of the Board will have to include members from the pastoralist community or people from the livestock sector. The issue of separating regulation and marketing within the functions of the ...
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to move that the Livestock and Livestock Products Development and Marketing Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 44 of 2016) be now read a Second Time.
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the livestock sector contributes almost 24 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in our country. As you are aware, only 30 per cent of this country’s land is arable or productive in agricultural farming. Seventy per cent of the remaining land mass is for pastoral farming, which has been neglected by all successive regimes since Independence. The livestock sector is concentrated in ASAL areas, and it accounts for 90 per cent of employment.
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would also like to welcome them to the august House. The livestock sector is dominated by small-scale farmers, and 90 per cent of the population in this country depend on the livestock sector for their livelihoods. Despite the dependency on the livestock sector, 70 per cent of the poverty levels in this country are in ASAL areas. This is due to poor policies implemented by the colonial regime and later, by the independence regime. The Government of Kenya prepared Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1965 that favoured the high potential areas to the detriment of ...
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
been investing there. In the last two decades, the per capital productivity in Kenya has been stagnant due to poor governance of the agriculture sector by the Livestock Department. There has been lack of capacity in the private sector. The Government has never attempted to build the capacity of the poor pastoralists in Turkana, Samburu, Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, Isiolo and other ASAL areas in terms of investing in that sector. Poor marketing strategies implemented by the successive regimes have also brought down the entire livestock sector. The Government has introduced authorities to regulate and monitor agricultural productivity in this country. ...
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
and other sectors leaving out the livestock sector. When you go to Botswana, one of the biggest contributors to the GDP of Botswana is the livestock sector. In our country, we have close to 15 to 17 million animals and Botswana has only 9 million animals in their country yet 40 or 50 per cent of their GDP comes directly from the livestock sector. This shows the attitude governments have been having towards the climate change in this country which has caused the persistent drought, lack of pasture and water and conflict in pastoral areas. This is really affecting the ...
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
investments in the livestock-based value addition in this country. Nobody is willing to invest in value addition in the livestock sector now because there are no proper incentives from the Government or the Government is not doing anything to market it outside the country and locally. The board will facilitate the development of skills and adoption of appropriate value addition technologies before the export of livestock products from Kenya. Currently, we are only exporting 0.02 per cent of animals to other parts of the world while we could do 10 or 15 per cent in the 1970s and1980s. The board ...
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
KMC is a slaughterhouse. It is doing nothing to the pastoralist communities. It is doing zero to the livestock sector in this country. It is just like a slaughterhouse in Kakamega, Turkana or Mandera. We must have a mechanism that links international and local markets and give data on the market. The meat industry contributes about 70 per cent of the red meat which is consumed in this country, and which comes from Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). The livestock sector has faced many challenges in marketing because middlemen are the biggest beneficiaries. They are the ones who are taking ...
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8 Feb 2017 in National Assembly:
meat, hooves and all other variables that can be marketed in this country. We, therefore, need to have a body that exclusively deals with marketing just like in the tea, pyrethrum and cotton industries. Currently, nobody knows the meat prices in this country. If you want to sell a carcass, you need to have about five documents for you to export one kilo of meat to Dubai, Saudi Arabia or any other part of this world while in the other sectors, you will only go to one shop and get all your documentation. You need to go for halal certification, ...
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