This archive report was first published on 20 August 2019.
On August 20, 2019, northern Kenya was on the cusp of a new era, with the Turkana oil set to hit international markets and the Lake Turkana Wind Power, the biggest wind farm in Africa, commissioned.
However, this 'resource boom' narrative risks reinforcing the image of northern Kenya as a 'barren land' being 'put to good use', eclipsing the power of the pastoralists' economy.
The pastoralists' economy, traditionally based on livestock, has long been overlooked in favor of cash crops like tea and coffee, a bias that originated in colonial Kenya.
Under colonial rule, the market was tailored to the needs of European settlers, who influenced regulations and governance patterns that barred African herd owners from integrating into national marketing structures.
Today, the long-term exclusion of northern Kenya's pastoralists from the market is a factor of demand uncertainty, high operating costs, and economic losses.
Live animals are traded in spot markets, where livestock are offered and assessed on eye-ball estimations, limiting the flow of vital market information to livestock keepers.
Prices and demands of livestock trucked to Nairobi are unknown prior to moving them, forcing local traders to hedge against vagaries of Nairobi markets by ferrying a mix of livestock sizes and types.
Live animal trading presents multiple risks – quantity losses, quality losses, and economic losses – and traders often rely on luck.
As the north becomes increasingly indispensable to the national economy, a discourse to realign arid and semi-arid lands agenda with government and donor priorities is gaining traction.
Governors from 'frontier counties' are doubling efforts to commission mega projects such as multi-million abattoirs, targeting high-value meat export markets.
Pastoralists are price-takers, with limited market opportunities beyond spot markets, and both livestock keepers and local traders are affected by variable and unpredictable prices.
Improving markets needs a judicious mix of appropriate policies and a shift in investment types, including investment in 'software' such as improved market information flow and price accuracy.
Branding of meat products from arid counties could also open new organic markets and induce a shift from undifferentiated markets to niche markets.
Such a shift in investment choices will establish stable markets that will reduce the precarity of livestock keepers and local traders and eliminate the need for emergency 'livestock offtake' in arid counties.
Dr. Malicha is a researcher and expert on African pastoralism and livestock value chain.
