Garissa County Government in collaboration with USAID has launched a one- year ‘Ufugaji Bora, Maisha bora’ Social and Behavior Change campaign, to help livestock farmers in the County to increase animal yield levels.
The campaign will be of social and economic benefit to the pastoralists, as it will increase their income and improve their livelihoods, thus alleviating poverty.
The leaders will seek to help the farmers adopt promoted animal health technologies, use high quality feeds on a regular basis, sell their livestock through aggregation channels such as farmers’ groups and Saccos, among others.
The farmers will further be trained to adopt improved hygienic milking, handling and preservation practices.
The campaign will be carried out via educational programs, awareness campaigns, mass media presentations, publications and group discussions across the County.
The program has been necessitated by realization that the biggest setback for local pastoral communities in realizing Sh50 billion annual income potential, is rooted in bygone social and behavior practices.
Community generated actions in response to communication provided in this campaign would lead to every shilling invested in livestock, translating to returns of Sh38 for cows, Sh36 for goats and Sh32 for camels for smallholder livestock producers.
By Erick Kyalo
