Bill puts livestock professionals on collision course

Livestock professionals are on collision course over a government bill to regulate veterinary services, with those against the legislation warning of massive job losses leading to essential services such as artificial insemination being inaccessible to farmers.

The Veterinary Surgeons and Para-Professional Bill, 2010, intends to give legal structure for registration and licensing of veterinary surgeons and animal technicians. It was passed by Parliament last month and now awaits the President’s signature to become law.

If passed, the bill will repeal and replace the Veterinary Surgeons Act, which provides for regulation of the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery, and set up a mechanism for the regulation of activities of veterinary surgeons and veterinary para-professionals.

The Kenya Veterinary Association said that if passed, the bill will create order in the livestock sector and return the animal resources industry to profitability “as we focus on the livestock revolution by 2020 and attainment of Kenya’s vision 2030”.

Animal welfare
The association said the law would protect farmers’ interests, guarantee food safety and animal welfare while ensuring the livestock industry supports economic growth and family livelihoods.

“The law’s critical role is to create sanity in the livestock sector by protecting animal owners from exploitation by quacks and protecting the human population from contaminated meat, milk and other animal products,” the association said in a statement.

However, the Animal Production Society of Kenya said although animal science consists of a number of disciplines, the bill failed to recognise these other professionals by further requiring them to offer services under supervision of veterinary surgeons.

Unacceptable and impractical

“The training and role of veterinary surgeons, just as other veterinarians all over the world, is purely to provide surgical intervention and clinical services,” APSK chairman Vincent Githinji said.

“It is therefore unacceptable and impractical for a professional trained in animal production, range management and others to be limited to work under supervision of a veterinary surgeon who has no idea the discipline he will be guiding.”

He added that if passed, the law would compromise service delivery to farmers and derail government food security initiatives by putting thousands of animal production scientists out of work.

“The bill subjugates and excludes 5,000 livestock practitioners in animal resource industry in favour of 400 veterinary surgeons; this will precipitate a crisis in service delivery,” Mr Githinji told Sunday Business.

Kenya Association of Livestock Technicians chairman Benson Ameda added that if the President assents to the bill, it would become difficult for artificial inseminators to work because they have either to be government employees or be employed by a veterinary surgeon.

“The government has privatised artificial insemination,” he said, warning it would hurt farmers most.

But the Kenya Veterinary Association insists the bill will restore sanity to the livestock sector.

“The President should assent to it so that the farmer will be able to identify persons who offer animal health services to ensure their animals are raised under acceptable standards since they shall receive appropriate professional service and interventions,” the Association said in a statement.

The association further said the law also supports the internationally recognised technical authority structures that would enable the country to trade animals and animal products with other countries.

“The practice of non-veterinary professionals practising veterinary medicine, including cattle dip attendants and other extension service providers calling themselves doctors, is entrenched.... There is therefore an urgent need to ensure that we enact laws to stop this.”