A large number of Kajiado Maasai livestock is still holed up in Makueni, Taita Taveta and Tanzania following scanty rain in parts of the county.
Some of the parts of the county that have received scanty rains include Engirrigiri in Kajiado East and some sections of Dalalekutuk.
Meanwhile, some livestock farmers have begun moving their remaining herds back to their homes as the March to May long rains season continues.
The herders who relocated in search of pasture to Nakuru, Makueni, Machakos, Kitui and Taita Taveta counties are now streaming back to their homes in Kajiado albeit with reduced herds.
Though their livestock numbers have greatly reduced, the farmers are grateful and are praying that the rain continues till the pasture for their livestock is fully replenished to help them restock.
One of the livestock herders, Mzee Peter Naikuni from Isinya subcounty said that he had 400 head of cattle while moving to Nakuru in search of pasture in August last year but his herd has reduced to 200.
"I relocated to Nakuru county in August last year but I ended up losing 120 cows due to the different climatic conditions there which affected the cows," Naikuni said.
"I later had to move to Kibwezi in Makueni County in January this year when the pasture was depleted in Nakuru. I lost 80 cattle in Makueni due to diseases."
Naikuni lamented that he has spent more than Sh1 million trying to ensure his herd survives as he was forced to buy pasture for his livestock to consume in the respective counties they relocated to.
Another farmer, Mzee Sapur Leyian shared the same fate with Mzee Naikuni. Leyian owned a hundred head of cattle before the ravaging drought left him with 20 cows.
"I relocated to Magadi in Kajiado West in June last year. I later moved to Narok in September. By December, I shifted to Taita Taveta county to make sure my herds survive," Leyian said.
"I have spent about Sh800,000 on the cattle now as I had to lease the parcels of land they grazed on. Due to their frail nature, I also had to use lorries and the train to transport them from Narok to Taita Taveta which was quite costly."
Asked whether they plan to change their source of livelihood, the pastoralists said that the government should train them on modern ways of livestock keeping, fodder growing and build mega dams for adequate water.
"We do not know any other means of livelihood, if the government can help us improve on what we already know concerning livestock keeping, we would appreciate it," said the aged herdsmen.
According to the National Drought Management Authority, more than 2.6 million livestock deaths have been reported in the country as a result of the drought with losses from the deaths estimated at Sh226 billion
County CEC member for Agriculture, Jackline Koin, told the Star on Thursday morning that grass has failed to grow in some areas that have received the rains.
“After we realised that anomaly, the county approached Food and Agricultural Organization to supply the pastoralists with grass seeds,” Koin said.
Koin said Kenyawa Poka, Matapato South and North, Iloodokilani wards and all parts of the Kajiado South subcounty received sufficient rains.
“The long rains are expected to end in May and we have advised our farmers to plant hay before the end of the rains. In most areas, calves and sheep have sufficient grass at the moment while grownup cows have to wait for at least one more week,” Koin said.
She said that while some farmers have returned their livestock to the county, from other areas where they had gone during the drought, others want to return home when the grass has matured.
“After the painful experience, our pastoralists went through in the last drought, World Wildlife Fund-Kenya is working closely with the Kenya and Tanzania Maasai who share the border on common conservation programmes,” the CEC member said.
She said that with the good relations between Kenya and Tanzania, cross-border grazing will be made possible once those sharing the border agree on full immunisation of their stocks.
“The two communities must adhere to the disease control mechanism. There is no other way because we do not want to spread livestock diseases,” Koin said.
