President William Ruto and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe were the star bidders at this year’s Nairobi International Trade Fair livestock auction, where top-quality Borana and crossbreed bulls fetched record prices running into millions.
The highly contested auction at Jamhuri showgrounds saw Ruto walk away with a prize Borana bull weighing 720 kilograms after placing the winning bid of Sh700,000.
He had earlier placed Sh300,000 for a 655-kilogram Borana from Kenya Seed Company.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, however, outbid him to secure it at Sh500,000.
In another round, Ruto offered Sh400,000 for a 635-kilogram Borana, but Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh outpaced him with Sh600,000.
Kagwe secured a 630-kilogram crossbreed bull at Sh600,000, after an intense bidding battle that left other offers on the table.
He had earlier placed Sh200,000 on the champion Borana bull weighing 616 kilograms from Kenya Seed Company, though Ruto eventually clinched it with a Sh700,000 bid.
PS Ronoh kept the contest lively with several competing offers, including Sh100,000 for the champion Borana and Sh300,000 for the crossbreed, though his bids were surpassed.
The auction was part of the official opening of the Nairobi International Trade Fair, presided over by President Ruto.
During the Mombasa trade fair, the Head of State, alongside other government leaders, also supported farmers by buying the animals at the auction.
Ruto bought a Chianina breed imported from South Africa at Sh1 million.
This year’s Nairobi trade fair theme is “Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture and Trade Initiatives for Sustainable Economic Growth.”
It will happen from September 29 to October 5.
The exhibition has attracted over 300 participants from diverse sectors, including international exhibitors from China, India, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Canada, and Nigeria.
The Nairobi fair remains one of the region’s largest platforms for showcasing innovations in agriculture, livestock, agribusiness, and trade.
It has been hosted by the Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) since 1902.
In the recent years, the annual event has grown in leaps and bounds to host events that enable networking, B2B opportunities, innovation, technology showcasing, product launches, livestock shows, and customer engagement.
The Jamhuri Showground is a complex of exhibition, trade, conferencing, and networking facilities.
It comprises the Jamhuri Park Exposition and Conference Centre, a modern conference and M.I.C.E facility with a capacity of 6000 seated guests and a 10-metre stage.
For erectable stands, the centre hosts over 400 indoor exhibition stands with spacious aisles.
It also has a modern kitchen, floating VIP lounge and three state-of-the-art conference facilities, making it ideal for conferencing, concerts, festivals, B2B events, exhibitions, workshops, corporate meetings and gala dinners.
In addition, the showground plays host to over 2000 stand-alone outdoor exhibition stands used for agri-tech showcasing, sustainability demos, dummy farms, interactive displays, sales activations, sales bazaars, customer engagement, and livestock exhibition.
