It is almost 20 years since the government of Kenya promised to establish a slaughterhouse-cum-meat-processing factory in the Kuria, Migori county.
The Ministry of Agriculture then had availed some statistics that indicated such an abattoir could do better in the area, where a huge raw material is readily available.
The multi-faceted meat factory was to be constructed at Mabera market along the Isebania-Migori-Kisii highway, a few kilometres from the Isebania border town.
The late Dr. Wilfred Machage, who served as the Kuria West Member of Parliament (MP) during the time, was the man behind this huge idea that was to give thousands of residents and non-residents a chance to put food on the table.
However, to date, the dreams of placing such a facility in the region have remained a mirage, amidst hopes that President Dr. Wiliam Ruto’s government may soon revive the idea and do something.
At the same time, Migori County Director of livestock Charles Nyaanga says that for a long time he has nursed the same idea, prompting him in the past few months to work on a concept paper on the same, a proposal that he has already sent to the Romanian government to seek support.
He explains that an abattoir within the region would produce a range of by-products like hides and skins, bones, horns, tallow and gallstones that local people will take advantage of to buy and sell for profit to other markets within Kenya and outside.
“The plant will not only present the possibility of exporting meat and meat products, which provide higher returns as compared to live animals, but will also increase the number of livestock brought into the country from Tanzania and consequently improve the general economy of the local people,” asserts Nyaanga.
“Such products would include corned beef and canned goat meat,” adds the Director, who said he fully supports the establishment of the slaughterhouse/meat factory, owing to the massive stock of livestock kept within the vast catchment area.
The Kuria region, which borders Tanzania, where most of the beefy livestock, including bulls, cows, goats and sheep, originates to offer unlimited raw materials for Kenya’s meat market, has since remained a fertile ground for raw material for the local meat industry and beyond for many years now.
Close to 3,000,000 Tanzanian livestock cross over into Kenya annually and are kept at the famous Mabera market.
They are then sold to traders from as far as Nairobi and immediately ferried on lorries to the City for their final end products in various factories and markets in Kenya and abroad.
Apart from livestock imported from Tanzania, Mabera livestock market also serves thousands of animals bred locally and brought from the catchment area spread across the other four nearby counties of Narok, Kisii, Nyamira and Homa bay.
Economic experts say that the availability of raw material for a big slaughterhouse and meat processing factory the size of the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) would be ideal for Migori, with a sustained supply period of over 50 years.
“We are sure of a nonstop supply of adequate raw material to an abattoir cum meat processing plant the size of KMC in the Mabera area of Kuria land,” says Dr. Peter Moronge, a retired veterinary officer, now a popular livestock farmer in the region.
Moronge, who breeds both animals for beef and dairy products, says he is aware of the promise made years back during the former late president Mwai Kibaki’s era to construct a meat processing factory within Kuria land, a plan he still believes will be fulfilled in the near future.
Agnes Chacha, a livestock trader, says that she longs to see a day when the hundred-plus lorries that ferry animals from Migori County to Nairobi every month will finally off-load the same cargo to be processed at a factory in Mabera.
Chacha says the plant would save farmers and local traders the huge costs they incur in hiring transport and workers to ferry animals to Nairobi.
“We pay up to Sh150,000 for transport to the city markets and another colossal sum of about Sh20,000 for the upkeep of those workers herding the animals on the lorries,” she explains, adding that such costs can be avoided should a plant be put up right at the source of the raw material.
Putting up a functional abattoir and a meat processing plant in Migori would be a harbinger of good things for the local farmers, animal traders and the general public in Migori and the broader Western region of Kenya.
Besides reducing the cost of transport to the current markets in Nairobi and other areas, the plant at Mabera would offer a wide range of job opportunities to the local people and beyond.
The debate about the establishment of the Mabera abattoir/meat factory evokes bitter memories of the pains the local farmers have gone through over the years, as they often watch their animals succumb massively to drought and diseases, forcing them to sell their weak animals at throwaway prices.
Farmers and traders within the region now say the construction of the abattoir/meat factory would be a milestone for them, as it would help regulate prices and provide a ready market for their animals.
By George Agimba
