Guidelines For Emergency Livestock Off -take Handbook
Date
2005Author
Dickson, M
Nyariki, Boniface
Makau, F
Wellington, N
Ekaya, Joseph
Gathuma, M
Type
BookLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Kenya’s agricultural sector accounts for 20–30% of the gross
domestic product (GDP). Of this, the livestock sector alone makes a
contribution of about 50%. Thus, livestock contributes heavily to
the GDP and food security of its population. It also provides the
necessary thrust for other forms of development in the country.
Recent statistics indicate that currently over 50% of the country’s
livestock population is based in the arid and semi-arid lands
(ASALs), which form about 80% of the country’s land area.
However, comparative international statistics show that livestock
contributes 88% of the total agricultural output in Botswana even
though the country has half Kenya’s livestock population and is of
less agricultural potential. Thus, there is a huge potential
contribution that livestock can make to the Kenyan national
economy. Unfortunately, this sector receives only 10% of the
government’s agricultural expenditure and less than one per cent of
total spending, yet it is estimated that Kenya’s potential to export
livestock products if adequately exploited would earn more than the
earnings from tea and coffee combined. This then calls for new
thinking about livestock development strategies to harness the arid landsThe livestock sector accounts for 90% of employment and more
than 95% of household incomes in the ASALs. Most of the
livestock slaughtered in major urban centres originates in these
areas, with an annual slaughter of about 1.6 million Tropical
Livestock Units. Kenya’s livestock from the ASALs is worth Kshs
60 billion (US$800 million). The internal livestock trade in trade in thepastoral areas alone nets in about 6 billion shillings (US$80 million )a yearIn the arid areas of the ASALs, arable crop production is not
possible without some form of irrigation; while in semi-arid areas
rainfall may be sufficient for certain types of crops, requiring
special management techniques. Therefore, except for the areaunder cropping, the rest of the arid areas is used for livestock.......
Citation
Nyariki, D.M., Makau, B.F., Ekaya, W.N. and Gathuma, J.M. (2005). Guidelines for Emergency Livestock Off-take Handbook . Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP), Office of the President; Agricultural Research Found ation (AGREF), NairobiPublisher
University of Nairobi,