Vet on Call: Understanding livestock policies and laws

Livestock farming has traditionally been done by rural communities.

Young, educated members of the communities viewed this economic activity as a preoccupation of those with low level of education thus shied away from it.

But later in their middle ages, such people would buy land and attempt to keep some animals from the safety of their white collar jobs in an expensive and often unproductive occupation known as “telephone farming”.

The situation is changing, however. Nowadays, I get enquiries from young educated Kenyans, both men and women, who have an interest in livestock farming as a business.

One key question that is consistent in their enquiries is, “Are there policies governing livestock farming and would they influence my ability to make money?”

One such an enquiry came three months ago from two male university graduates, in their late 20s.

They wanted to know if they could keep broiler chicken in large numbers, stocking about 10,000 per batch in Nairobi. Their aim was to supply restaurants with chicken meat.

Another enquiry came from a lady, who is a university graduate, who wanted to put up a large-scale pig farm to produce animals for breeding and slaughter.

In the past, I only got such enquiries from the middle-aged or those planning for retirement.

In today’s article, I will look at the general policy and legal environment that governs livestock farming in Kenya. I will also explain how policy affects the profitability of livestock farming.

The cases for the two young men and lady were straight forward. I informed the men they needed to familiarise themselves with the Public Health Act that stipulates that anyone carrying out an activity must not create nuisance to the public.

They also needed to understand that chicken production of the scale they were planning in an urban setting, requires an Environmental Impact Assessment Licence from the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

It would also require an annual environmental audit to ensure that it is in compliance with the Nema regulations.

COMPLY WITH LAWS AND POLICIES

Finally, the policy of the Nairobi County Government was in their favour as it provides for urban agriculture. However, urban farming activities must comply with the Nema regulations and the Public Health Act.

The young lady planned to establish her pig farm in Kiambu on seven acres hence it would be a normal farming operation that would not require a Nema licence as that is agricultural land.

Nonetheless, compliance to the Public Health Act would still be required.

The purpose of policies and laws governing farming is to ensure the health of the public nationally and internationally is safeguarded and the government provides for food security.

These legal instruments also help to raise the economic status of farmers and traders in animals and animal products and defend animal health and welfare.

Compliance to livestock farming policies and laws requires farmers to invest more than the traditional farming where animals are kept with little regard to regulations.

Thus, a farmer complying with the policies and laws may spend more in their farming business and lower their profits as compared to those that do not comply.

This discrepancy is supposed to be eliminated by strict implementation of the policies and enforcement of laws to create a uniform business environment for all farmers.

Further, the cost of complying with policies and laws should be evened out by better prices of produce from farmers who are compliant.

This happened in horticulture farming in Kenya and is definitely catching up in livestock farming.

Kenya’s Vision 2030 recognises the value of livestock agriculture as it envisages the creation of disease-free zones and livestock processing facilities to enable Kenyan livestock and livestock products meet international standards.

This would enable the farmers realise high profits when the livestock and livestock products are traded on the lucrative international market. Such a situation further underlines the need for farmers to comply with policies and laws governing livestock farming.

LEARN THE BEST LIVESTOCK FARMING PRACTICES

Currently, the main policy governing livestock production is the National Livestock Policy (NLP). The other anchor policy is the Veterinary Policy (VP), which is yet to be finalised and launched for implementation.

The NLP seeks to raise livestock farming in Kenya to world-class level by improving breeding, nutrition and feeding, animal health, animal produce processing and marketing, research and extension.

If the NLP and the VP were well-implemented, the livestock farmer would have access to the lucrative international livestock and livestock products market. This in turn would greatly raise the profits in livestock farming.

Currently, Kenya fails to trade its livestock and livestock products in the international market mainly due to animal diseases, inadequate quality of products processing facilities and lack of livestock identification and traceability.

These parameters are all covered in the livestock policy and the planned veterinary policy.

One area that livestock farmers lose by complying with the livestock farming regulations is depopulation of animals for disease control.

This is especially so in the case of pig farming where animals in a herd affected by the deadly African swine fever are all required to be killed and disposed of but the government has no compensation policy.

A compensation policy for disease control depopulation would protect farmers from making losses.

Currently, the best option for farmers is to take out insurance cover for their animals and ensure they manage their flock in accordance with the conditions of the premium.

I encourage young people and any other persons interested in commercial farming that they make sure they acquaint themselves with the best livestock farming practices and the policies and laws governing livestock farming in Kenya.

They should also seek to know the opportunities available on the lucrative international market and engage the relevant government agencies and leaders to negotiate for interventions that would unlock such markets for Kenyan farmers.

****
Dairy Act

The Dairy Industry Act provides for the improvement and control of the sector and its products like milk, cream, butter, ghee and cheese.

The Act establishes the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) mandated to regulate, develop and promote the dairy industry.

The board dispenses the following regulatory services: licensing of milk handling premises, inspection of milk handling premises; surveillance on the quality and safety of milk and milk products, review and development of dairy standards, management of imports and exports.