By VINCENT MABATUK
Kenya: Leaders from West Pokot County want to introduce hybrid cattle breeds and encourage locals to shun rustling.
Leading a delegation of residents from Pokot to a dairy farm in Njoro to familiarise themselves with new dairy technology, Senator John Lonyangapuo and Governor Simon Kachapin agreed that cattle related problems and illiteracy were bringing down standards of living among the community and promised to correct that.
For the last four years, the Senator said livestock breeders from Lelan highlands have been acquiring bulls from Rift Valley Technology Farm for crossbreeding.
“As a county government, we have agreed to set in motion programmes to improve livestock production in the County,” said Mr Lonyangapuo.
Youth and young farmers will be given an opportunity to visit successful cattle breeders to learn more. The leaders said the Zebu cattle the Pokot had kept for generations had poor milk production hence not a solution to poverty eradication .
“The cows they keep are inefficient. They produce less amount of milk a day. It is difficult to build a milk business around that area and that is way we have decided to turn tables upside down this time round,” said Lonyangapuo.
The Governor noted that large herds increased chances of conflict over pasture and served as a magnet to cattle rustlers. He said Friesian cows, on the other hand, could produce substantial amount of milk a day. ?“Through such practices, we are able to expand the economic standards of our county residents by far,” he said.
Lonyangapuo said the county had been subjected to under development due to rampant cases of insecurity, an issue he noted could be solved through the goodwill of community leaders. “Our people have suffered for long and we as the political class needs to solve this issue once and for all,” he said.
