09 June 2004
Source: Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire

: Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has embarked on a three-year programme aimed at educating and equipping Kenyan farmers with livestock improvement skills.

Farmers engaged in growing livestock will receive education on proper sheep feeding management and sensitisation on the importance of parasite control in animals, local senior animal production official, Virginia Ngunjiri said Wednesday.

Farmers are also receiving training on proper methods of establishing fodder crops and legume fodder units in their holdings to enable them grow high quality feed for their animals.

''With the openings for high quality wool being provided by the AGOA, and the rising demand for the same in the local market, there is need for livestock farmers to embark on programmes aimed at not only improving wool production, but also ensuring quality control is maintained,'' Ngunjiri told PANA.

According to the official, local animal farmers are faced with the several problems, chief among them being lack of quality stock due to scarcity of quality breeds.

There is also a glaring lack of marketing groups and cooperative societies, which would enable farmers source for local and regional markets for their wool, to ensure they (farmers) reap maximum profits from the produce, Ngunjiri noted.

Hence, middle men are reportedly exploiting farmers by buying wool at a throw away price of less than two US cents per kilogram and in turn sell the same to woollen mills and other manufacturers for $1 per kg.

Kenya boasts of several types of sheep breeds, chief among them the Dooper, mainly reared for Mutton, and the Red Maasai, a local breed favoured by the Maasai pastoralists of Southern Kenya, as it is said to be resistant to some common worms.

Farmers in the country also keep the Corriedals and the Hampshire Downs, which are reared mainly for wool production.