President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday bought a dairy cow at an incredible price of Ksh1.1 million at the Narok County’s inaugural livestock show and auction. During the event held at the Narok Stadium, the Head of State went for the biggest dairy cow during the event which weighed a staggering 1,460 Kg.
“The livestock sub-sector is a significant player in our economy which must be enhanced to create more wealth and jobs for our people,” Uhuru stated.
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The occasion provided an avenue where livestock farmers show cased grade and interbreed cattle.
During the event, President Uhuru equally encouraged Narok farmers to move away from the tradition of keeping herds of low quality cattle and adopt modern methods of farming especially in breeding high quality cows.
“A time has come for us to adapt our cultures to the needs of today. We must embrace new technologies in order to upscale our farming for quality production, if we are to survive and compete in the global market,” he remarked.
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Pledging the governments support in ensuring that farmers have access to quality and affordable livestock input, Uhuru indicated that the government would endeavour in improving markets as well.
“The interventions we have initiated like livestock insurance schemes, feedlots among others, are key to my dream of achieving food security,” he added.
The Kenyatta family has invested heavily in agriculture and when it comes to farming, President Uhuru goes all out as his farm in Gicheha, Nakuru County shows.
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The 4000-acre farm is located a kilometre off the Nakuru-Eldoret highway and has over 1000 animals.
A majority of the animals reared in the expansive land are imported from South Africa and include Boer goats, Brangus, Charolais, Hereford, Brahman and Ankole from Uganda. Local breeds include the Borans and Sahiwals.
He told farmers adopting modern technology was more productive and cheaper than the several herds of cattle that they keep which require large tracks of land for grazing.
“We must adopt new technologies if we are to survive. I have seen modern cows here which if you kept just 100, the profit in terms of cash, milk and meat is equal to that of 1,000 traditional cows,” he added.
The president also said his government was committed to ensuring value addition to the farm products and his government had set aside KSh 3 billion for agricultural products in the county.
He said the national government was working with the county leadership to help farmers get more value by introducing milk coolers and setting up a tannery for processing hides.