A critical planned mass vaccination programme for livestock across all Kenyan counties has ground to a halt due to a severe funding shortage, threatening one of our country’s main agricultural sectors, senior agriculture officials and industry leaders have warned.
The initiative, aimed at immunising millions of cattle, sheep and goats against diseases like foot-and-mouth and anthrax, has been stalled since the beginning of the year, with the national budget failing to cover the Ksh193 million needed to secure vaccines and deploy veterinary teams.
“We understand that the exercise was called off due to a lack of money, and this will have significant repercussions on livestock production in the coming months,” said Kenya Veterinary Paraprofessional Association (KVPA) chairman, Mr John Ngigi.
Speaking in Naivasha during a crisis meeting with some responsible government officials, Ngigi further said that the Directorate of Veterinary Services and the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production, tasked with coordinating the effort, had not yet fully begun any vaccination process, thus leaving herds vulnerable to outbreaks that could devastate herders and disrupt meat and dairy supplies.
The ripple effects are already being felt, the KVPA chair stated — a case in point being the suspected anthrax case reported by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) in a non-vaccinated herd in Narok County days ago.
As the stalemate continues, the government is now under pressure to act swiftly to avert a looming crisis in the livestock sector.
This is happening at a time when Kenya is facing wider economic challenges, including rising debt and competing demands on the national budget.
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