President Uhuru Kenyatta has annouced the government's pilot programme of insuring livestock days after the transfer of the Kenya Meat Commission from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Defence.
Speaking during the virtual launch of the African chapter of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA Africa), on September 16, he said the programme would be a first in Africa.
The programme is designed to assist vulnerable pastoralists in the arid and semi arid areas to build resilience to severe droughts.
The government will make timely insurance payouts to the pastoralists for them to purchase fodder, water, veterinary drugs, among ther supplies, to keep their animals alive until the drought has passed and forage conditions return to normal.
The program targets Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, Tana River, Garissa and Samburu counties covering a total of 18,000 pastoralists in these counties.
The governemt also aims to develop a sustainable commercial insurance market for livestock insurance.
Pastoralists have in the past complained of exploitation by KMC, with the latter owing Ksh264 million.
During the virtual launch of GCA Africa, he noted that the desert locust invasion has devastated livelihoods of farmers and posed an unprecedented threat to food security.
President Kenyatta called for the integration of adaptation measures into Covid-19 recovery packages and urged development partners to support Africa's climate initiatives.
He challenged GCA Africa to spearhead the upscaling of pilot adaptation projects such as Kenya's livestock insurance scheme.
"Additionally, several adaptation initiatives that have been piloted in Africa should be scaled up by the centre we are launching today.
"These include the Kenya Livestock Insurance Programme, the first government livestock insurance scheme in Africa, and which protects pastoralists against drought; and the mangrove protection and restoration project as is being piloted in Gazi, Kenya," he said.
