Agriculture
Kajiado County Government has rolled out a two-week animal vaccination exercise after some animals in the area indicated symptoms of blue tongue, Foot and mouth diseases and Rabbis.
At least 5,000 livestock and 20 dogs in Enkaroni, Purko Ward have received the vaccination courtesy of Kajiado County government in partnership with Welt Hunger Hilfe (WHH) and VSF Germany.
Purko Ward Member of County Assembly (MCA), Simon Saitoti, revealed that, despite the pastoralists living distant from where the vaccination exercise is being conducted, most of them made an effort to ensure their livestock received the dose and they appreciate the initiative taken by the county government.
“People in this area live far away but they came in good numbers with their livestock. This vaccination has been brought at the right time. The Foot and mouth disease started at the border with Tanzania, and we appreciate the county for coming through with the vaccine especially here at the grassroots to prevent our animals from the infection,” said Saitoti.
According to Dr Melita Lein, a veterinarian and Kajiado county surveillance coordinator, the vaccination exercise has been received positively and they have managed to vaccinate the animals against three diseases.
“We have managed to vaccinate animals against three diseases, the first one is Foot and mouth disease that affects cows, Blue tongue for sheep and rabbis brought about by dogs. We have vaccinated a total of 3,700 cows, 1,820 sheep and 20 dogs. We had earlier vaccinated the goats so today we did not have a big number,” revealed Dr Lein.
The vaccination was launched by Governor Joseph Ole Lenku and will cut across all wards in Kajiado County has made pastoralists delighted and they in turn have called on the county government to train pastoralists on the best ways to do agriculture as Steven Nkanapa narrates.
“Today we have received an opportunity from the county government to vaccinate our cows. Led by the governor we appreciate the initiative taken by the county, personally I had a challenge with my livestock, they had started showings signs of uncontrolled mucus, swollen legs and skin problem. But with the vaccination they will be okay. We also would like to ask the county to educate us on how to do agriculture, how we can take care of our cows, hens and goats”.
Daniel Nkaru, a pastoralist and a resident at Enkaroni said that most pastoralists lost their livestock to Foot and mouth disease and blue tongue as they had no idea of the right vaccine to give them or even afford it.
“What we normally do when our animals experience these diseases we go to the chemists, and because there are variety of doses, we sometimes are unaware of the right one. Some vaccines heal them, but some do not. We lost most of our livestock because of the foot and mouth disease and the blue tongue but we believe with this vaccine now they will be okay,” said Nkaru.
The animal vaccination exercise is part of the governor’s County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) blueprint on achieving modulated pastoralism in the county.