Wajir — President William Ruto has announced a Sh5 billion County Livestock Investment Company initiative aimed at enabling more than 350,000 pastoralists across 21 Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) counties to establish and own livestock investment companies.
Speaking during the 63rd Madaraka Day celebrations in Wajir County, the President said the initiative will empower pastoral communities to move beyond traditional livestock keeping and become shareholders in enterprises that process, market, and add value to livestock products.
"Just as tea farmers own their factories through KTDA and dairy farmers own their cooperatives, pastoralists too must own and control the businesses built around their livestock," Ruto said.
The Head of State said the new investment companies will provide pastoralists with access to markets, financing, insurance services, and value addition opportunities, transforming livestock from a subsistence activity into a modern commercial enterprise.
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"Through these enterprises, they will gain access to markets, gain access to finance and insurance, and value add their produce," he said.
According to Ruto, the first phase of the programme is expected to improve the livelihoods of more than two million household members in pastoral regions.
He directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in collaboration with county governments, to begin immediate registration of livestock investment companies across all 21 ASAL counties.
The President also announced plans to operationalise the Livestock Enterprise Development Fund, establish a national strategic food and fodder reserve, strengthen pastoral cooperatives, roll out a nationwide animal identification and traceability system, and expand infrastructure needed to access premium export markets.
"We must move beyond live animal exports to higher-value products such as meat, leather, and dairy products," he said. "For long, many looked at livestock and saw subsistence. We see livestock as enterprise, exports, jobs, and wealth."
Ruto noted that livestock remains the backbone of northern Kenya's economy, contributing about 12 percent of Kenya's Gross Domestic Product and 42 percent of agricultural GDP in ASAL counties. The sector accounts for more than 90 percent of employment and over 95 percent of household incomes in pastoral regions.
He highlighted ongoing government interventions, including the distribution of more than 52,000 sheep, goats, and cattle to over 10,000 households across 16 ASAL counties under a livestock restocking programme.
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The President said the government has also vaccinated more than 10 million animals, expanded local vaccine production to over 123 million doses, restored more than 300,000 hectares of degraded rangelands, established feedlots and hay storage facilities, and strengthened livestock breeding and marketing systems.
Additionally, Ruto announced the deployment of 2,000 new agripreneurs to ASAL counties to provide last-mile agricultural advisory services, connect pastoralists to markets and finance, and promote climate-smart pastoralism. The recruits will join 5,000 agripreneurs already working nationwide.
The President said these interventions are already yielding results, citing an 84 percent increase in meat exports from Sh8.9 billion in 2022 to Sh16.4 billion in 2025.
Milk production has grown from 4.6 billion litres to 5.3 billion litres, while dairy exports have nearly tripled from Sh4.9 billion to Sh14.2 billion over the same period.
Ruto said northern Kenya is poised to become a major livestock trade hub linking Kenya to markets across Africa, the Middle East, and beyond.
"Northern Kenya is not peripheral to Kenya's future. It is central to it. We see northern Kenya becoming the gateway of Africa's livestock trade to the Middle East and the world," he said.
The announcement formed part of a broader development agenda unveiled during the Madaraka Day celebrations, including investments in education, healthcare, housing, roads, water infrastructure, and youth empowerment programmes aimed at accelerating economic transformation and inclusion in northern Kenya.
