The country has been warned to prepare for harsh weather conditions from October to December, with livestock farmers expected to be hit the hardest.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Agriculture has forecast a La Ni\u00f1a event, which will bring reduced rainfall and lead to a significant decline in pasture availability, severely impacting livestock production.<\/p>\n
In response, the Ministry has established the Kenya National Feed and Fodder Emergency Team to devise strategies aimed at mitigating livestock losses.<\/p>\n
Dr. Stanley Mutua, head of Animal Feeds and Nutrition at the Ministry, warned that the country would experience depressed rainfall from late 2024 into 2025.<\/p>\n
To address the impending crisis, the Ministry plans to boost fodder production, secure additional storage facilities, and conserve existing water resources.<\/p>\n
Speaking after a consultative meeting in Naivasha, Mutua revealed that current national fodder stock stands at just 60%, forcing farmers to rely on imports to meet the shortfall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Drought Management Authority has already issued a warning about the upcoming La Ni\u00f1a, and we are taking steps to address the fodder situation,\u201d said Mutua.<\/p>\n
He noted that in the 2022 drought, Kenya lost over 2.5 million livestock valued at over Sh50 billion, a loss the Ministry is keen to prevent through ongoing mitigation efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on storing and distributing fodder, particularly to the ASAL (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) counties, which will be hardest hit,\u201d Mutua added.<\/p>\n
David Maina from the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) acknowledged that the fodder sector had yet to fully recover from the previous drought.<\/p>\n
He confirmed that the region would experience low rainfall, adversely affecting the livestock sector, which employs millions of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are collaborating with various stakeholders to implement measures that will reduce the impact of the depressed rains on fodder production,\u201d said Maina.<\/p>\n
Christine Karui from the African Women in Animal Resources Farming and Agribusiness Network (AWARFA-N) emphasized the importance of women benefiting from the livestock sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen have long been involved in rearing livestock but have rarely benefited from the proceeds, and land ownership often works against them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tumul Orto, a livestock farmer from Marsabit, expressed readiness for the upcoming challenges but noted a rise in livestock diseases in the region as an added concern.<\/p>\n
The post Kenya prepares for La Ni\u00f1a as livestock losses, drought is predicted<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Kenya prepares for La Ni\u00f1a as livestock losses, drought is predicted<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The country has been warned to prepare for harsh weather conditions from October to December, with livestock farmers expected to be hit the hardest. The Ministry of Agriculture has forecast a La Ni\u00f1a event, which will bring reduced rainfall and lead to a significant decline in pasture availability, severely impacting livestock production. In response, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}