SPEECH BY H.E. ENG. JOHN MTUTA MRUTTU, GOVERNOR-TAITA TAVETA COUNTY ON THE LAUNCHING OF TAITA TAVETA LIVESTOCK MULTIPLICATION PROGRAMME AT BACHUMA HOLDING GROUND ON MONDAY 3RD MARCH, 2014.

The livestock sector also faces livestock disease challenges which are causing huge losses to the livestock keepers. In that regard, my government has put in place a 5 year development plan in line with vision 2030 and the National Livestock Policy. This will be done by improvement of disease control through disease surveillance and vaccinations where the department is now in the process of procuring vaccines for notifiable diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease, Lumpy Skin Disease, Anthrax, contagious pneumonias and Newcastle disease in poultry.
The potential for meat production is high in the county. But due to uncontrolled natural resource utilization, this potential has not been attained. Currently the livestock population stands at: beef cattle 153,000; sheep and goats-230,000; poultry-650,000. This can be increased to the optimal level through livestock breed improvement, quality management, disease control and better marketing strategies. At this juncture, I want to challenge all the ranch management committees to put in place proper natural resources management practices so as to derive maximum benefits from their investments.
Where communal grazing takes place, efforts should be made to institutionalize involvement of the community in the planning, development of range and pasture rehabilitation packages…..
…Taita Taveta ranches are strategically located for livestock finishing for regional and international market. This is an opportunity which cannot be overlooked.
The creation of Disease Free Zone is an opener to link livestock farmers in the county to external market. I challenge the ranchers to take advantage of this opportunity to improve production through proper leadership and management.

Am aware that the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development is facing challenges in terms of transport, funding and staff shortages. This is likely to affect extension service delivery in the county and also to achieve its goals as planned in the county strategic plan.
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