Where numbers matter: Better herd management for better productivity in Kenya’s pastoral communities

Moses Muyang’ai (centre) shows his farm records (photo credit: ILRI/James Audho).

The north eastern region of Kenya is home to pastoralists whose livelihoods mostly depend on the sale and consumption of livestock and their products. But the pastoral production systems in the region are characterized by low growth rates and off-takes coupled with frequent cyclic droughts, which increase the vulnerability of these communities.

Addressing these and other challenges in pastoral livestock production requires particular consideration of the mobile herding system and rangeland management strategies in order to create sustainable sustainable solutions that improve the resilience of pastoralists.

Against this backdrop the International livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and other partners under the Feed the Future Kenya Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) project is working towards improving the quality of livestock kept by pastoralists and to boost their productivity through better herd management practices. The project is working in Isiolo, Garissa, Marsabit, Wajir and Turkana counties in northern Kenya.

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