Uplifting pastoralists entails bringing information closer to them

Turkana nomadic family on the move. PHOTO: Ng'esi Ayong'.

Confronted with a poor, largely illiterate nomadic population, there always pops up that temptation to paint them with one brush, and to advance that faulty view about pastoralists' inherent unwillingness to innovate, and to wholly blame them for failure to adopt the mainstream economic thinking espoused by other supposedly economically ‘superior’ Kenyans.

Though unofficially proclaimed, this thinking shapes the day-to-day engagement between pastoralists themselves, and between pastoralists and other people.

That pastoralist communities in Kenya are materially and culturally endowed is beyond doubt. Why this wealth has translated to little or zero improvement of living standards of the said people is another issue altogether.

Figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) paint a picture of a people struggling to surmount the twin challenges of harsh climatic conditions of their localities, and (national) policy disconnect and inbuilt indifference on the side of those mandated to provide public solutions whenever public challenges are pointed out.

It is still common to hear of higher infant mortality rates in pastoral lands. Schooling is in a sorry state.

But herein lies a fundamental point. Harsh climatic conditions of Kenya's pastoralist-dominated regions are not to blame. Many other countries across the world are no better than northern Kenya but have lots of positive points to display thanks to their leaders' ingenuity. 

Botswana, with its elaborate rangeland livestock farming easily comes to mind. Even unstable Somalia pockets huge gains from livestock rearing!

This headache of pastoralists' underdevelopment emanates from poor information dissemination. 

Admitting that we are faced with unfriendly climate that hinders large-scale livestock farming is one factor. Taming this climate is yet another factor. In between them rests one solid question: how committed is Kenya's officialdom to provide lasting solutions?

First things first. Pastoralism as a key economic activity of a significant proportion of Kenyans rarely features among the top priority items in Kenya public policy discourse. Tragically, whenever it appears it is either as a result of public outcry or due to a severe drought scenario that attracted external actors (in most cases deep-pocketed NGOs).

In all these cases, the government joins the fray to save face and never to robustly combat the issue at hand.

Examples abound. Mention any drought incident in Kenya and you will hear of livestock off-take programs. The real beneficiaries of these programs have never been and will never be livestock keepers. The whole process is beyond their control. On one hand they face an unforgiving terrain decimating their animal wealth, and on the other, an elaborate scheme of profiteers who see coins out of tears of herders.

That this team of opportunists remains unchallenged is not only a testament of betrayal of the people by their own government but a clear indication that it will not take long before the people rise up to demand action.

As far as I know, no clear drought mitigation blueprint exists. And if it does, it is domiciled somewhere in government shelves. 

This is probably a culmination of self-inflicted ignorance on the side of the governing elite - and the people alike - that livestock sub-sector is just but an appendage of Kenya's economy. That Kenya's economy is firmly anchored in cash crop production and tourism.

If the 2009 national census is anything to go by, then, there is an urgent need to reactivate our minds. Take the case of Turkana County. The county has its livestock population standing at about 10 million. It has no designated animal disease-free zones. Veterinary officers are nowhere to be seen.

Outreach programs only materialize as a reactive measure to inflict more pain on the already suffering livestock farmers. Like some years back, there was a blanket ban on sell and/or transportation of livestock and livestock products outside Turkana County ostensibly to curb spread of animal diseases. Prior to this, no proactive measures were deployed to keep these diseases at bay. 

One is then left to wonder if authorities’ inaction is another tool to control pastoralism and/or to systematically downscale its benefits. On this one, I choose to stand with the people.

As if to underline this sad state of affairs, Kenya has a fully-fledged state corporation mandated to produce, preserve and conserve animal genetic material (semen embryo, tissues and live animals) and rear breeding bulls for provision of high quality disease free semen to meet the national demand and for export.

All these sweet pronouncements notwithstanding, the Nairobi-based Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Center (KAGRC), has for all its seventy-years of existence seen no reason to decentralize its services.

Should pastoralists trek up to Nairobi in order to enjoy the services of this taxpayer-funded body? How many other public bodies are withholding their services from the people?

It is foolhardy to run around praise-singing about how modernized our economy is, yet – information – a vital component of growth continues to be doled around at the mercies of those holding it.

Kenya has no choice but to share its loads of information with pastoralists in a manner that best suits their demands.

Until this is done, uplifting pastoralists will just remain a pipe dream – but with grave consequences.

Twitter: @mlemukol.