DEVELOPMENT

Kenyan Village Finds a Way to Upgrade its Cattle Breed
By John Kamau
Keeping pure grade cattle is not an option 60-year-old North Sakwa farmer,
Odiengi Nyaugu would still prefer. His North Sakwa counterparts in western
Kenya wouldn't either.
"A pure grade cattle is very expensive to keep. They also fall easily to
disease attacks thus discouraging us from keeping them. Again, very few of
us can afford the cost of buying one", he says as we take a walk in his
shamba.
Ever since the Kenya government decided to privatise Artificial Insemination
(AI) services and withdrew subsidy for the running of village cattle dips, -
mainly due to pressure from donor institutions - the main extension
challenge for rural areas has been to come up with rural cooperatives that
could fill in the yawning gap.
Although to assist in this changeover, the government has been emphasizing
livestock extension within the dairy sector, access to credit facilities by
small-scale producers has not been forthcoming and few stakeholders have
plunged into the field.
But at North Sakwa an experiment on how to bridge this gap is on and could
soon be copied by many other areas in the country - a success story in the
making.
For years stakeholders and extension officers in the North Sakwa area have
been trying to map out workable plans on improving livestock farming. The
residents have found a rather strange option; - get a grade communal bull
that would help in upgrading local breeds instead of relying on the
expensive AI services.
"The entire project involves teamwork, disciplined administrative and
financial systems and methods, as well as functional co-ordination. The
'ownership' of the project and its implications for sustainability is slowly
getting understood by the villagers", says Odiengi Nyaugu, a local farmer
who is the chairman of the upgrading project.
With support from extension officers from the National Agriculture and
Livestock Extension Programme of the ministry of agriculture and rural
development the new experiment could help translate the concept of
sustainable development to the residents of North Sakwa.
"We want people to own both the problems and the solutions. Only then will
they succeed. Our work is to give relevant advise to them ", says Johnson
Rono, the Nalep officer at Bondo.
Already a communal cattle dip has been started to support the
re-introduction of grade cattle in the area. Here cattle are treated against
ticks with spray equipment acquired by the locals, subsidised the NALEP, a
programme funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).
"Farmers are now looking to the future with confidence. We have trained them
on how to sustain the project", says Rono, optimistic that the North Sakwa
experiment would easily work out in other areas.
The management committee is headed by village elders charges as little as
shillings 20 for every cattle sprayed plus other treatment.
"Since it was opened, 320 cattle, 11 goats and 37 sheep have received
treatment," says Nyaugu , a spokesman for local residents.
While the Nyambege Focal Area is offering extension workers from the
ministry of agriculture a chance to see how the new grading of cattle can
become sustainable when ran by the locals, the farmers have started counting
the fruits of their labour.
"Life is slowly changing and we hope by opening a bank account we can even
acquire loans from other financial institutions or donors who are interested
in helping us. After the basic training we got, there is no looking back and
we are ready to improve livestock production in this region," says Erick
Nange, a member of the committee.
Extension officers agree that unavailability of cheap credit, coupled by
expensive farm inputs could hinder the progress of the experiment.
"We need support from non-governmental organisations and other
stakeholders", says Rono.
All the project records are kept by a village committee and they hold
meetings to review the progress It was in one of the meeting that the idea
of getting a communal bull surfaced. " The bull will soon be here," said
Mzee Otieno Ogonji, explaining that the entire community will own it.
Records show that for the few farmers who have already upgraded their local
breeds, the milk production is high and they can meet their basic needs.
"Local breeds can hardly produce 1 litre within a period of 3 months while
the upgraded one is capable of giving four to five litres for nearly nine
months," said Ogonji.
The district's Agricultural and Livestock Extension Officer Johnson Rono
explains that the major impediment to grade cattle keeping in the area is
tsetse- fly attacks which is prevalent in the area.
He explains that due to the heavy undergrowths in the area, tsetse is plenty
and poses one of the greatest dangers to the well-being of the animals.
In Kenya dairy farming is mainly practiced in Njoro, Nakuru, Kericho, Bomet,
Laikipia, Uasin Gishu, Nyandarua and Naivasha. In the Coastal region, it is
practised in Kwale region.
Farmers ay that with additional external funding they could switch to cattle
keeping permanently.
"Upgraded cattle is the best idea since the half breed can easily survive in
this area and produce relatively better compared to the indigenous breeds,"
says Ogonji.
Smallholder dairy farmers are encouraged to construct stall-feeding units
and draw up a farm budget. Regular visits from specialized dairy extension
workers reinforce extension messages to assist farmers in the management of
the enterprise (Rights Features)

For more information
Contact Mr K. Kiara
Email: [email protected]

John Kamau, Rights Features