Lodwar, 5th March 2025 (Governor’s Press Service) -Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai today flagged off the distribution of supplementary livestock feeds, veterinary vaccines, drugs, and equipment to support pastoralists across Turkana County.
The initiative includes 2,870 bags of supplementary livestock feeds, which will benefit 2,870 vulnerable households with livestock affected by drought. The distribution targets communities in Turkana East, Turkana South, Turkana West, Loima, Turkana Central, and Turkana North.
Governor Lomorukai stated that the objective of the initiative is to save lives, protect pastoral livelihoods, and support the recovery following prolonged drought. The feeds are specifically targeted at sheep and goat core breeding stock.
“The goals of supplementary livestock feeding are to maintain livestock body condition, increase feed availability for targeted households, improve household nutrition through milk availability—especially for children—reduce food insecurity, and enhance purchasing power through improved incomes from the sale of livestock,” he explained.
In addition to the feeds, a consignment of veterinary vaccines, drugs, and equipment worth Sh25 million was also dispatched. These supplies will be stored in strategic cold chain facilities across the county and used for emergency livestock vaccination, deworming, treatment, and disease control exercises.
Governor Lomorukai announced that the county will allocate more funds to procure additional feeds as part of preparations for the forecasted drought. He directed the ministry to coordinate the distribution of the dispatched feeds to sub-counties to prevent pilferage and ensure that targeted households benefit.
The distribution also prioritizes households in Todonyang, which were affected by recent deadly attacks by suspected Ethiopian militia.
Chief Officer for Livestock Development Dr. Gilchrist Lokoel reported that the county has vaccinated, treated, and dewormed over 2.4 million livestock in the past two years. He added that the county plans to procure additional feeds worth Sh25 million to cushion pastoralists from the upcoming drought.
He appealed for more funding to meet the high demand from pastoralists, who account for over 70 percent of Turkana’s population.
County Executive for Agriculture, Livestock Development, and Fisheries James Wang’iros reiterated the ministry’s commitment to achieving the objectives of the food security agenda. He informed the Governor of an ongoing assessment of irrigation schemes and a reevaluation of strategies to maximize production.
Wang’iros stated that the department will prioritize irrigation schemes for mega investments rather than smaller funding injections that yield minimal returns. Additional strategies include deploying more extension officers and decentralizing the county’s tractor fleet to sub-counties to boost crop production mechanization.
Chief Officer for Agriculture Marian Lotieng’ announced that the county has deployed tractors to support land preparation in anticipation of the long rains. Chief Officer for Fisheries and Aquaculture Evans Lomodei added that the county is mobilizing boats from other regions to aid recovery efforts in Todonyang.
The launch was attended by Chief of Staff Peter Loyapan, Directors Dr. Benson Long’or (Veterinary Services), Bobby Ekadon (Livestock Production) and Richard Lokoyan (Land Reclamation), Deputy Director Dr. Erenius Nakadio (Veterinary Services) and Assistant Director for Administration Emmanuel Ewar.
