Animal products prices may increase in some parts of the country following an outbreak of a lethal napier grass disease, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) has said.
The affected areas include Molo, Gilgil and Naivasha.
According to Kari assistant director Faustine Wandera, the disease is likely to lower livestock production, especially milk. He said that the disease has ravaged hundreds of acres in the Rift Valley and western parts of Kenya.
“We are worried that the prices of livestock products might shoot up as a result of the napier grass disease,” the officer said.
“The effects of napier stunt and smut diseases are being felt by many livestock farmers across the country.”
Speaking at the Dairy Training Institute in Naivasha, the official said the diseases have reduced forage levels of napier grass in the country.
Wandera, however, said that they are working round the clock to combat the disease that threatens to hamper livestock production.