Cattle at the Wajir livestock market. Wajir livestock farmers to benefit from Middle East Market. Photo/the-star.co.ke]
Livestock farmers in Wajir County and other parts of North Eastern Kenya are set to benefit from a programme that will enable farmers to access financial aid which will assist them in accessing the lucrative Middle East Market.
The loan facility will be advanced through sharia-compliant Sacco, Crescent Takaful Sacco (CTS) in partnership with Mercy Corps through its Braced initiative.
Mercy Corps programme coordinator and learning manager Diyad Hujale said the programme dubbed Mifugo Cash will assist livestock farmers to export meat and other livestock products.
Mr. Hujale said the credit facility is meant to help livestock keepers bolster their stock to meet the threshold required to supply beef to Nairobi abattoirs.
Livestock farmers have also been linked with private abattoirs in Nairobi operated by individuals with tenders to supply meat to the Middle East.
The coordinator, however, noted that livestock farmers transporting their cattle to Nairobi are incurring a lot of losses due to police interference.
Mr. Hujale claimed that the farmers are stopped and charged illegally and when they refuse, their cattle are held unlawfully for hours, leading to massive loss of weight by the cattle.
“There are challenges that we documented where traders pay a lot of tax to transport their cattle from Wajir to Nairobi. There are about 25 roadblocks where the police engage in illegal taxation,” he said.