By George Munene

The Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) will offer direct livestock purchases from farmers in an effort to better their returns. 

The agency which was placed under military stewardship last year will also review livestock pricing every three months as well as buying animals by use of live weight as opposed to carcass weight.

Speaking at a farmer’s sensitisation effort in Mandera County, DOD procurement officer Lieutenant Colonel Waluke explained; “Our purpose of coming to Mandera today was to sensitize the farmers and tell them about how livestock can be procured at Kenya Meat Commission and familiarize ourselves with the challenges farmers face.” 

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For Garissa livestock keepers, KMC announced the buying price for cattle with a live weight of 350 kilograms and above to be Sh180 per kg for bulls and steers while cows will fetch Sh170/kg.

The cattle will need to have attained a minimum weight of 200kg to 180kg. For this weight class farmers will earn Sh150 per kg for bulls and Sh140kg per cow.

Goats and sheep will need to weigh at least 20 kilograms to be accepted. A buck will fetch Sh220 per kg with a doe being bought for Sh210 per kg. Rams will fetch Sh210 per kg while ewes will go for Sh200 per kg.

At a farmers' meeting at Garissa, KMC’s team leader Lt Col Martin Maluki said since being moved from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Defence the Athi River-based abattoir has upped its capacity from seven cows a day to 200 and will be slaughtering 6,000 animals every month.

This improved capacity is hoped will lead to the plant’s revival in its march to profitability as it provides ranchers and organized livestock trading groups a ready market.