USAID rolls out projects to boost livestock marketing in Garissa

Garissa County Department of Livestock Development has rolled out a programme to improve livestock health.

The programme will benefit some 30,000 pastoralists in the county through social behaviour change communication, improvement of animal husbandry methods and adoption of better production practices.

In partnership with the County Communication Department and the consultant firm APN Media, and with funding from USAID, the team has set out to identify reasons why the pastoralists are not practising desired behaviours and come up with messaging strategy to address it.

They will also design a social behaviour change campaign around the barriers. The results will be used to refine and further develop the project's behaviour change strategy, including specific sub-activities.

The team held its inaugural meeting on Saturday, ahead of carrying out extensive fact-finding fieldwork next week.

Presenting the SBCC strategy to participants on Saturday, the project consultant Lydia Muthoni said the programme will implement communication interventions to enhance essential knowledge and skills, and an enabling environment for improved livestock nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene practices among the target communities.

Additionally, she noted the strategy will be hinged on interpersonal communication as it encourages dialogue, addresses specific barrier and facilitates skills building among peers.

The programme was launched two months ago by Agriculture CEC Mohamed Shale and Livestock Director Dr Haret Hambe.

The technical persons for the project are Joel Okal representing the county government and John Kutwa representing USAID.

Livestock production in Wajir is the dominant economic activity in the county and plays an integral role in driving the local economy.

Over 80 per cent of the population depends on livestock for their livelihoods and food security.

Shale said the sector also accounts for 75 per cent of employment in the rural setup, earning the county approximately Sh10.5 billion from livestock products annually.

The livestock executive said it is for this reason that the county has over the years prioritised the sector by carrying out massive vaccination exercises as well as providing feeds to the animals and launching water tracking exercises during drought.

During the launch, Shale thanked USAID for rolling out the programme in Garissa which he called ‘transformative’, adding that it will bring about sustainable outcomes and results at the community level.

-Edited by SKanyara