Marsabit Governor Ukur Yatani to build Sh200m slaughterhouse

Marsabit County Governor Ukur Yatani will build a Sh200 million abattoir to boost the livestock sector.

On Sunday, Dr Yatani disclosed that his government would launch major projects aimed at uplifting living standards of residents.

Last year, the focus was rehabilitation of essential services like water, roads, health and other basic facilities.

“Marsabit County is a livestock producing county. Over 90 per cent of the economy depends on livestock. A modern facility will help us control price, hygiene and be in a position to export meat directly from Marsabit,” said Dr Yatani.

He said the objective of the county was to be a supplier of quality meat to other parts of the country and international markets.

“Already, we have done a survey that shows there is demand for meat in countries like Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Libya and Egypt,” said the governor.

Some of the livestock reared in Marsabit country is bought by Ethiopian traders who then sell it in Djibouti, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, noted the governor.

Two weeks ago, he was in Turkey to study how that country manages its livestock production supply chain system. He said during the tour he and his entourage identified the abattoirs, how they are constructed and learnt invaluable lessons on how to run them.

MET INVESTORS

The governor also recently led a delegation of his top county officials on a tour of Middle East and attended an annual investors meeting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The officers conducted a market analysis on demand for meat and its products and met investors interested in the sector. This included exporters of livestock products from Africa to the Middle East.

“The Dubai investors promised to set up an abattoir in Marsabit, and we even have a design of the kind of structure they are interested in. The design meets even the European Union (EU) standards,” said Dr Yatani.

A team of potential investors from Middle East later visited Marsabit County to follow-up on the same. During their visit, the team had discussions with various agriculture and livestock development stakeholders.

Senior officers from the county accompanied the team of potential investors on a field visit to identify the possible sites to set up an abattoir and the livestock breeding ground.

County officials said further discussions to bring on-board all the relevant stakeholders, communities and area leaders were in progress.

Livestock keeping is the main economic activity in the county.

There are 1,143,480 goats, 424,600 head of cattle and 960,000 sheep.

Other livestock are camels (203,320) and donkeys (63,860). There are also chicken.

The main livestock products are milk, beef, mutton and camel meat.