Over 15,000 livestock shipped to Oman as Kenya launches monthly exports

A ship laden with 15,600 heads of livestock will on Tuesday sail off from the Lamu Port destined for the Port of Salalah in Oman.

Over the weekend, Lamu Port was a bee-hive of activities as officials from KPA, KRA, veterinary services, shipping agents and the Omani importers worked round the clock to load the livestock onto the vessel.

Al Bashayer Meat Company, an Omani-based company bought the 15,600 animals from Kenya- 200 cattle, 15,400 sheep and goats.

The Omani company will now be doing a 30-day rotation between the ports of Lamu and Salalah.

The company, which was established in 2016 and partly owned by the Oman government, imports animals mainly from Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa and Kazakhstan.

It has now acquired some 100 acres of land adjacent to the Lamu Port, where it has established a holding ground for the animals for export.

Apart from Al Bashayer Meat Company, the Port of Lamu has also attracted yet another livestock importer from the United Arab Emirates.

Kenya has negotiated a number of sanitary protocols with Middle East countries to facilitate the export of livestock and livestock products from Lamu Port.

Peter Masinde, the manager cargo operations at Port of Lamu, said apart from Al Bashayer, the other UAE importer is also planning to put up another 100-acre animal holding facility at Hindi, Lamu.

“We now have two importers from Oman and UAE who have shown interest in Lamu. This other importer from Dubai, UAE may be coming on board within the next three months," Masinde said.

Masinde said the livestock export business is poised to open Lamu and the northern frontier region where the animals are sourced from.

“The livestock market is wide and has a lot of potential. It provides an opportunity for the Kenyan farmers to invest in livestock for export,” he said.

Most of the animals for export are being sourced from Garissa, where they mainly keep the black-headed sheep and the Galla goats.

Black-headed sheep and Galla goats are suited for low altitudes and they are also resistant to diseases which is why they are loved in Middle East countries.

Most of the cattle for export are sourced from Laikipia and the Merino sheep are sourced from Narok, whereas camels are from Tana River county.

Apart from the Kenyan livestock, the Port of Lamu will be handling animals from five other African countries including; Ethiopia, South Sudan, northern parts of Uganda and as far as Mali, Masinde said.

Annually, the port will have the capacity to handle in excess of 300,000 heads of livestock when the project is fully realised.

To handle the livestock export business effectively, the Ministry of Agriculture in July said it had set aside Sh500 million for the construction of livestock handling facilities around the port.

Masinde said the government will establish animal holding grounds in Bargoni near the Kenya Defence Forces barracks in Lamu and a laboratory facility in Witu.

The holding field near the port will be utilised as a quarantine facility for certifying livestock for export.

“The existing government holding grounds and laboratory facilities are at Mariakani in Mombasa, which is far from the Port of Lamu,” Masinde said.

Within the port, the government will set up a holding yard on a 20-acre parcel of land next to berth number 1, Masinde said.

“The Ministry of Livestock is committed to funding the project. Funds have already been allocated and a contractor is being sought to carry out the project,” he said.

Jack Kisero, international trader manager at Al Bashayer, said this is the third time this year they are moving live animals from Kenya.

The first and second shipments were done in January and February through the Mombasa Port.

“For this third shipment, we decided to move to Lamu because it is nearer to Salalah compared to Mombasa. Lamu to Oman is a seven-day voyage when the sea is calm," Kisero said.

Kisero said they have set up a pre-quarantine area for the animals at the 100-acre parcel of land that they have acquired in Lamu.

“We are building a facility of international standards here in Lamu which will handle live animals for export to Oman, Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, and all other Middle East countries,” he said.

Al Bashayer has also acquired Banyas 1, a Togo-flagged livestock vessel, which will be coming to Lamu for one year.

The vessel, which has an overall length of 72 metres and a width of 13 meters, has the capacity to carry 20,734 small animals (sheep and goats) and 2,200 cattle.

“We will be having a rotation every 30 days, until we see how best this port works for us. Thereafter, we will start having a rotation every 21 days,” Kisero said.

The Port of Lamu was operationalised on May 20 last year by former President Uhuru Kenyatta and since then it has handled 13 vessels.

(Edited by Tabnacha O)