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Kenya: Change of Policy Milks the Dairy Sector Dry
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The Nation (Nairobi)
20 March 2008
Posted to the web 20 March 2008
Sammy Cheboi
Nairobi
The privatisation of the provision of Artificial Insemination (AI) services 15 years ago has impacted negatively on the milk sub-sector.
The decision meant that private agents were in charge of providing the services while the Government played a supervisory and regulatory role.
The State subsidy for the AI services was withdrawn, as per the requirements of Structural Adjustment Programmes of the early 1990s. This left the provision of AI in the private hands.
And since most of the private companies were ill-equipped, the quality of the services was wanting.
It is out of this realisation that the Government continued to provide the service alongside private providers up to the early 2000 in a district like Uasin Gishu, according to district veterinary officer Joseph Njuguna.
African Breeders Service (ABS), a distributor of American Breeders Service (ABS), is a private provider of AI services established in 1996.
According to Mr John Kibor, the company's North Rift regional manager, the cost of a single insertion ranges from Sh800 to Sh5,000 depending on the breed.
"The cost of AI per single gender-selected (female) semen is Sh5,000, while ordinary (non-gender selected) semen goes for Sh800," Mr Kibor explains.
The company operates in the North Rift, Central Rift and parts of Western Province.
"We have been conducting training and awareness among farmers on why they should not use local bulls. AI helps them improve their herds and reduce cases of diseases in their animals," Mr Kibor says.
Impact negatively
Mr Kibor fears that most farmers who needed their services were unable to access them due to post-elections chaos. He says this will impact negatively on production in the long run.
In 2004, the Government appointed Thorn Tree AI Services, a private provider in Eldoret, as an agent for semen, liquid nitrogen and equipment from Central Artificial Insemination Station (CAIS), Kabete.
In addition to CAIS genetics and equipment, the firm also stocks and distributes a wide variety of imported semen.
Dr K. A. Shah, a veterinary surgeon, explains that the cost of AI depends on the Arm Service Charge, which is dependent on the distance travelled (or time spent) and the type of semen.
The firm that works with 20 farms and 70 AI providers, experienced a 70 per cent drop in its services due to the political chaos.
"The violence affected our customer base, mostly the small scale farmers, leading to a 70 per cent decline in our services," says Dr Shah.
Dr Njuguna admits that private inseminators falsified their monthly returns for fear of competition, leading to inaccurate data.
"Some inseminators were not filing accurate returns to us when they had high numbers of inseminations for fear of competition from others in adjacent jurisdictions. But since we explained the need for data accuracy for planning purposes, this has changed," notes Dr Njuguna.
The Government's supervisory and regulatory role is four-fold: monitoring inseminators through monthly returns to district veterinary officers; receiving and investigating complaints from farmers and consequently disciplining professional misconduct on the part of inseminators, and approval of imported genetic material (semen) by the director of veterinary services.
Dr Njuguna adds that they occasionally conduct seminars and farmers' field days for farmers and inseminators.
He laments that inseminators concentrate on high potential areas to the detriment of farmers in far-flung areas. Funding limitations also hamper the ministry's effectiveness in carrying out its functions.
In Keiyo District, the number of farmers who use the AI services has been on a decline over the years.
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In Kamarinny Division, for example, the number currently stands at 25 down from 40 in the last few years.
High potential
"The high cost and management of AI services has forced many farmers to opt for local bulls, which compromise milk production. The number of farmers who have been using the service in Kamariny has dropped," the district veterinary officer, Dr Munderu Chege says.
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