Kenya: Rift Valley Fever Devastates Meat Industry
January 30, 2007
Posted to the web January 30, 2007
Dagi Kimani, Special Correspondent
Nairobi
Kenya's meat industry, which contributes nearly 4 per cent of the gross domestic product, is facing unprecedented devastation following the spread of the deadly Rift Valley Fever (RVF) into the populous districts around Nairobi.
At least half of Kenya is now under threat from the fever.
At stake is an industry that produces more than 363 million kilogrammes of red meat each year valued at over Ksh43 billion ($615 million), with the value of beef market alone being estimated at Ksh35 billion ($500 million). The combined goat meat and mutton market is worth more than at Ksh8 billion ($114 million) while camel meat stands at Ksh0.66 million ($9,400).
The exact value of the meat trade is probably much higher as these figures are based on an Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) investors' briefing prepared in late 2005 by Nairobi-based PKF Consulting Ltd in conjunction with the International Research Network (IRN).
Last week, butcheries and red meat distributors in Nairobi started reporting a decline business following the first death in the capital of a patient transferred from a neighbouring district to the referral Kenyatta National Hospital.
Kajiado district, where much of Nairobi's beef and goat meet comes from, also last week reported outbreaks of the killer fever.
Recent marketing studies estimate that total annual beef consumption in Nairobi and Mombasa exceeds 91 million kg and 15 million kg respectively. This translates to about 850,000 animals per annum, the bulk of which originate from the Northeastern and Coast Provinces, now under quarantine in a bid to limit the continued spread of RVF.
The disease has already killed at least 120 people and thousands of livestock in the two provinces alone.
In total, according to the EPZA report, red meat - comprising beef, mutton, goat and camel meat - accounts for over 80 per cent of all the meat consumed in Kenya. More than 67 per cent of the red meat is produced in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) under the pastoral production system.
Pastoralists in the areas hard-hit by RVF rear about 70 per cent of the national livestock herd, estimated at about 9.7 million beef cattle, 9.6 million goats, 8.3 million sheep, and 0.8 million camels. All these animals are susceptible to RVF, and their transportation, slaughter and consumption is already being limited by the quarantines now in place in much of Kenya east of the Rift Valley.
Other than the disruption caused by public jitters in Kenya, the effects of RVF are likely to hurt Kenya's efforts to export more meat and animal products.
The country's main export markets for meat products have traditionally included the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania and Uganda, while the main markets for hides and skins are Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.
According to EPZA data, the value of meat products exported increased from Ksh190 million ($2.7 million) in 1999 to Ksh 285 million ($4.1 million) in 2002 while the quantity of hides and skins exported increased from 7,302 tonnes in 1999 to 13,910 tonnes in 2003.
Since 2005, Kenya has substantially expanded its export market to countries in the Comesa and Indian Ocean regions, including Mauritius and Seychelles and the Comoros.
Disruption of both the domestic and export markets is likely to slow the path to profitability for the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), which was reopened on June 26 last year by President Mwai Kibaki nearly 15 years after being looted into bankruptcy.
KMC's newly refurbished factory in Athi River near Nairobi is the biggest integrated meat plant in the region, and has already won several export orders, which could now be in jeorpady.
The fact that the current RVF outbreak has reached hitherto unaffected areas is likely to compound the economic costs incurred by the meat industry.
The unusual spread of the disease, which Kenyan experts have attributed to irregular weather patterns and global warming, has occurred despite the efforts of the authorities and international partners to set up a buffer zone to cordon off the two regions from the rest of the country by instituting mass vaccination of animals and through quarantines.
Kenya last experienced an RVF outbreak during the 1997-1998 El Nino season, when more than 400 people and thousands of livestock died from the disease. The outbreak led to the cancellation of exp-ort orders, mainly to the Middle East, worth millions of shillings.
January 30, 2007
Posted to the web January 30, 2007
Dagi Kimani, Special Correspondent
Nairobi
Kenya's meat industry, which contributes nearly 4 per cent of the gross domestic product, is facing unprecedented devastation following the spread of the deadly Rift Valley Fever (RVF) into the populous districts around Nairobi.
At least half of Kenya is now under threat from the fever.
At stake is an industry that produces more than 363 million kilogrammes of red meat each year valued at over Ksh43 billion ($615 million), with the value of beef market alone being estimated at Ksh35 billion ($500 million). The combined goat meat and mutton market is worth more than at Ksh8 billion ($114 million) while camel meat stands at Ksh0.66 million ($9,400).
The exact value of the meat trade is probably much higher as these figures are based on an Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) investors' briefing prepared in late 2005 by Nairobi-based PKF Consulting Ltd in conjunction with the International Research Network (IRN).
Last week, butcheries and red meat distributors in Nairobi started reporting a decline business following the first death in the capital of a patient transferred from a neighbouring district to the referral Kenyatta National Hospital.
Kajiado district, where much of Nairobi's beef and goat meet comes from, also last week reported outbreaks of the killer fever.
Recent marketing studies estimate that total annual beef consumption in Nairobi and Mombasa exceeds 91 million kg and 15 million kg respectively. This translates to about 850,000 animals per annum, the bulk of which originate from the Northeastern and Coast Provinces, now under quarantine in a bid to limit the continued spread of RVF.
The disease has already killed at least 120 people and thousands of livestock in the two provinces alone.
In total, according to the EPZA report, red meat - comprising beef, mutton, goat and camel meat - accounts for over 80 per cent of all the meat consumed in Kenya. More than 67 per cent of the red meat is produced in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) under the pastoral production system.
Pastoralists in the areas hard-hit by RVF rear about 70 per cent of the national livestock herd, estimated at about 9.7 million beef cattle, 9.6 million goats, 8.3 million sheep, and 0.8 million camels. All these animals are susceptible to RVF, and their transportation, slaughter and consumption is already being limited by the quarantines now in place in much of Kenya east of the Rift Valley.
Other than the disruption caused by public jitters in Kenya, the effects of RVF are likely to hurt Kenya's efforts to export more meat and animal products.
The country's main export markets for meat products have traditionally included the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania and Uganda, while the main markets for hides and skins are Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.
According to EPZA data, the value of meat products exported increased from Ksh190 million ($2.7 million) in 1999 to Ksh 285 million ($4.1 million) in 2002 while the quantity of hides and skins exported increased from 7,302 tonnes in 1999 to 13,910 tonnes in 2003.
Since 2005, Kenya has substantially expanded its export market to countries in the Comesa and Indian Ocean regions, including Mauritius and Seychelles and the Comoros.
Disruption of both the domestic and export markets is likely to slow the path to profitability for the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), which was reopened on June 26 last year by President Mwai Kibaki nearly 15 years after being looted into bankruptcy.
KMC's newly refurbished factory in Athi River near Nairobi is the biggest integrated meat plant in the region, and has already won several export orders, which could now be in jeorpady.
The fact that the current RVF outbreak has reached hitherto unaffected areas is likely to compound the economic costs incurred by the meat industry.
The unusual spread of the disease, which Kenyan experts have attributed to irregular weather patterns and global warming, has occurred despite the efforts of the authorities and international partners to set up a buffer zone to cordon off the two regions from the rest of the country by instituting mass vaccination of animals and through quarantines.
Kenya last experienced an RVF outbreak during the 1997-1998 El Nino season, when more than 400 people and thousands of livestock died from the disease. The outbreak led to the cancellation of exp-ort orders, mainly to the Middle East, worth millions of shillings.
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