Category: POPULAR

Naivasha, May 20, 2022, leading retailer Naivas Supermarket is set to open the doors of its newest outlet in Kayole, Naivasha along the Nairobi- Nakuru highway.

The opening of the new store covering 18,000 square feet puts Naivas national store count at 84 with three of those now in Naivasha. The other outlets within the town are Naivasha Kubwa and Naivasha Ndogo.

Naivasha Ndogo is the original store that first bore the name Naivasha Self Service Stores a name that later evolved to Naivas. Speaking on the expansion, Naivas Chief Commercial Officer, Willy Kimani, said “We celebrate each store opening as it adds fuel to the fire that drives the business which is to see to it that we remain to be a local success story upon which many other Kenyan entrepreneurs build their dreams. However, we are particularly very excited about this opening.”

“The new outlet has a well thought out product range that has become akin to the brand and being the first foodmarket in Naivasha you can bet that the experience is going to be  wholesome not just for the residence of Kayole but even for travelers headed to the rift and western part of the country. This mixed-use buildout has all a traveler needs and we can for sure promise that your stopovers just became better as it is very accessible and has ample parking,” concluded Willy Kimani.

As is the tradition, exclusive opening will be offered to shoppers living up to its brand promise; saves you money and more so during these hard economic times.

An animal rights activist has raised alarm over the increase in the number of donkeys being slaughtered illegally in bushes in various parts of the country.

Speaking to the press in his office in Naivasha Thursday, the Brooke East Africa Regional Director Mr. Raphael Kinoti said various cases of donkey slaughtering have been reported in various places such as Kitengela and Athi River in Machakos County, with the latest case being reported in Mbaruk in Gilgil area in Nakuru County.

“The donkeys are slaughtered in bushes and the meat harvested which means Kenyans could be unknowingly consuming donkey meat when visiting their favorite eatery or get their fresh cut from a butchery to carry home,” Kinoti said.

He hailed the Ministry of Agriculture for closing the four donkey abattoirs that had been licensed in the country, saying the donkey population in the country is now on its way to recovery after this closure.

The government had ordered donkey slaughterhouses to close in 2020, as concerns rose over the theft of the animals by gangs seeking their skin and other products.

The operators filed a case in court opposing this ban but the ban has not been lifted yet. Two of the abattoirs were in Naivasha and I Mogotio in Baringo County.

Kinoti said during the period the slaughterhouses were operating, the country lost over 300,000 donkeys which presented a very big loss as the country boasts of having slightly over 1.8 million donkeys of which around three-quarters are working animals used in transport and farming thereby playing a key role in Kenya’s agricultural economy.

The director of this animal welfare organization said animals were important in the economic lives of many Kenyans, especially in arid and semi-arid areas where they were used for transporting water and other items due to their resilient nature.

He appealed to donkey farmers to continue taking good care of their animals so that they could reproduce to increase their numbers.

“An overworked donkey with poor nutritional status cannot reproduce,” Kinoti said urging farmers to always give their donkeys time to rest and feed and provide medical care when they are unwell.

Kenya had become the epicenter of a fast-growing industry in Africa to supply donkey skins to China, where gelatin called ejiao made from boiling them is used in a traditional medicine believed to stop aging and boost libido.  This saw the prices of donkeys rise from     Sh 6,000 to Sh 10,000.

“Donkey skin is said to be good for building up the body and blood deficiency conditions such as anemia, heavy menses as well as irritating dry coughs in China. This has endangered donkeys in Kenya,” Kinoti said.

The trade-in donkey meat and hide were legalized in Kenya in 2012. Although Veterinary experts say donkey meat is safe for human consumption, its consumption is yet to gain ground in Kenya.

A report from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) showed that more than 4,000 donkeys were reported stolen over the period April 2016 to December 2018.

Kenya had in 2016 licensed four donkey abattoirs which is far more than any other country on the African continent.

Meru National Agricultural Show is expected to resume this year after a break of about two years following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year’s show will be held from June 1-4 and is expected to attract more attendants as well as exhibitors compared to the previous years, considering that invitations have been extended to Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Isiolo and Laikipia Counties.

This year’s theme will be ‘promoting innovation and technology in agriculture and trade’.

Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) Chief Executive Batram Muthoka told journalists that they would be running nine shows this year as opposed to the usual 16 following the stringent resumption protocols set by the Ministry of Health in regards to Covid-19.

“We successfully held the Eldoret show recently and Meru will be the second,” said Muthoka.

He said in 2019, when the last show was held in Meru, 250,000 people attended and this number is expected to rise to between 300,000-350,000 this year based on the intensive marketing strategy being applied.

“We have just invited the neighboring counties to this show and therefore we anticipate that quite a number of people will attend the show,” said Muthoka.

He said the ASK was also looking at ways of fully utilizing their assets at the show grounds to ensure they were not only active during the show dates.

“We are running through development of an integrated land use master plan and we have already completed the one in Jamhuri Park and a few other shows,” he said.

“In the next phase, we are coming to Meru so that we have that master plan that will pick up other investment plans so that this becomes a main city of Meru and draw many businesses into the ground,” said Mr Muthoka.

“Simply, we are saying that other than the shows that we run, we will have many other investments here in Meru showground,” he added.

The showground’s Chairman Mr. Stanley Mukaria said they were expecting better shows this year and encouraged more people to attend.

“As you know, if a product gets out of the market for some time, it comes back with some improvements and this is what should be expected of our shows,” he said adding that they were also expecting to have more than 150 exhibitors as opposed to 2019 where they had only 28.

He said so far, they were happy with the ongoing preparations and the positive feedback they were receiving from the stakeholders.

Some of the planned activities during the show include farmers’ training, demonstration plots, networking with exhibitors, display of various exhibits and products, purchase of certified seeds and farm inputs among others.

Negative health impacts will only get worse as the demand for meat continues to grow considering that by 2030, meat consumption is projected to grow by 30 percent in Africa.

According to the World Animal Protection (WAP), this skyrocketing demand has seen billions of stressed animals mutilated and confined to cramped and barren cages or pens for their whole lives.

In their research findings released today in a report dubbed “The Hidden Health Impacts of Industrial Livestock Systems in Africa’, rising human illnesses are from the consumption of livestock derived foods containing food safety hazards

According to the report, the most damaging human health impact has been linked to industrial livestock production systems including the emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and yet governments around the world are turning a blind eye to the public health toll of factory farming as well as the suffering of billions of farmed animals.

WAP says that report builds on the concept of five pathways “through which food systems negatively affect our health” as outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in their 2021 report Food Systems Delivering Better Health.

Speaking during the release of the report, Dr. Victor Yamo, Farming Campaigns Manager at WAP said that the emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance in Africa is driven by the weak regulatory capacity of government agencies charged with the responsibility of managing the production, registration, distribution, and utilization of these products leading to the rampant misuse.

“The law requires that antimicrobial drugs be purchased against a prescription, but our farmers can purchase the same over the counter without a prescription,” he said

Dr. Yamo added that the situation is further compounded by the inadequate extension personnel on the ground to advise the farming community on innovative and good animal welfare, animal husbandry, and animal health practices which would render the need for use of antimicrobial drugs unnecessary.

Dr. Lian Thomas, a Scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi said that the health of farmed animals and their environment must be a high priority for the public health sector.

“Sustainable food systems which promote good animal health and welfare, and environmental protection, will directly protect human health,” he said

Dr. Thomas noted that Industrial livestock farming requires the production of a high density of genetically homogenous animals, which leads to the quick spread of diseases many of which can directly affect human health.

Systemic shifts will therefore be needed to deliver the biggest health gains for the population which include re-orientating subsidies away from factory farming towards humane and sustainable practices, improving the affordability of plant-based foods, and providing transition support for farmers who no longer wish to engage in factory farming.

Jacqueline Mills, Head of Farming, at World Animal Protection, said that Industrial Livestock Production systems are not only cruel to the animals that they produce but are also making humans sick.

“On the surface, the meat, eggs, fish, and dairy products produced by these systems seem cheap, but they are costing us our health and our governments trillions of dollars each year to mop up the damage they cause,” she said.

Mill said there is, therefore, a need to break the cycle of suffering of the animals in the food system and that the food industry needs to embrace a humane and sustainable future where farmed animals are kept in genuinely high welfare systems where they can have good lives.

“Now is the time for governments to focus on better health outcomes for farmed animals, people, and the planet. We need a moratorium on Industrial Livestock Production systems,” Mill added

To make these shifts, WAP has called upon African governments to impose a moratorium on Industrial livestock production systems, introduce and enforce higher farmed animal welfare standards like the Farm Animals Responsible Minimum Standards (FARMS)

The commitment in the form of a moratorium on industrial livestock production systems should also be within the National Climate Action Plans in recognition of these systems’ contribution to climate impacts.

The African governments must also develop and implement national One Health, One Welfare action plans and national Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) plans that recognize the health impacts of industrialized livestock and restrict its growth.

The report has highlighted that three-quarters of the world’s antibiotics are used in farmed animals, either to prevent them from getting sick, to promote fast growth or, to treat disease, practice driving the emergence of superbugs (antimicrobial-resistant bacteria), which leaves us less able to fight infections.

New research has found that 1.27 million people die each year from superbugs, and it is estimated that by 2050 this will be the leading cause of death globally.

Kenneth Lomericol Kimaiwa, from the remote village of Kinyach in Baringo North, we had the privilege of cooking for two former presidents, the late Daniel Arap Moi and President the late Mwai Kibaki has joined other Kenyans in paying glowing tribute to the latter.

Kimaiwa was employed in 1998, courtesy of former personal secretary to president Moi, and deployed to Eldoret State Lodge as a driver for the late president.

He says since that opportunity had not yet opened, he landed himself in the garden, where he only worked for only one month and was reassigned to the kitchen as a supervisor, where his terms and conditions of service were converted into permanent and pensionable.

Kimaiwa who served as a cook for the late President Moi at the Eldoret State Lodge until he retired in 2002 says that one day in 2005, the now-deceased President Kibaki and the late First Lady Lucy Kibaki, visited the lodge and they were pleased, with the kind of food he had prepared for them.

On the eve of the Christmas festivity of the same year, he was informed that he was required at Mombasa State House by Lucy Kibaki the following day.

“I was at my Kinyach home that moment when I was told that the first lady wanted me to report at Mombasa statehouse. It was my first time boarding a plane as I missed a Mombasa-bound bus in Nairobi by a whisker. I quickly thought and went straight to State House, Nairobi, where I explained myself and the staff arranged for a flight which I boarded with the late Kibaki that same day,” he said.

In an exclusive interview with KNA at the Baringo Information office in Kabarnet Monday, Kimaiwa, 59, described the late retired president as humble, outgoing and a person who loved his employees.

“I will forever remain thankful to the late president and his wife for recognizing my efforts and allowing me to cook and serve them. It was during this period that I got to know some of his children including Judy and Jimmy Kibaki,” says Kimaiwa who remembers his stay at the State House with nostalgia.

He notes that his first day at Mombasa State House was punctuated with fear and trembling since he was the only cook and was being supervised by the former first lady but thanks God that he managed to exceed her expectations.

When the first family left for Nairobi after New Year celebrations, Kimaiwa who currently serves as a Chief cook at Kenya School of Government (KSG), Kabarnet campus, says Lucy recommended his transfer to Nairobi State House.

“My dedication, commitment, and mannerism might have pleased the Kibakis’ and that is why they recommended me to serve at Nairobi State House upon leaving Mombasa, a job I took with a lot of zeal,” he narrates.

Kimaiwa explains that he cooked for Kibaki up to 2008 when he requested a transfer since the work had overwhelmed him. He used to wake up as early as 5 am and sign out past midnight after preparing a menu for the next day.

The late president, Kimaiwa points out, enjoyed local delicacies like Managua, Cabbages, Njahi, Arrow roots, roasted Potatoes, Mukimo, Pork, and white meat including Fish as well as Chicken.

The chief cook, who no longer cooks but only does supervision at the institution says that one uniqueness with Kibaki was the fact that he would instruct him to carry along with him foodstuff and cooking equipment whenever he was traveling to even beyond the country.

“Before he leaves the State House for visits across the country and beyond, he would first check on me to see to it that I am also ready with my tools of the trade,” says Kimaiwa.

Kimaiwa who says he has never enrolled in any course in hospitality, but only gained skills and knowledge on food preparation from the workplace, states that his performance culminated in a stronger bond with the then first family as he could be entrusted with all the cooking department even on Sundays when Kibaki’s attended mass.

The Form Two dropout says he will remain indebted to Kibaki for allowing him to serve at State House for the entire first term and part of the second term, adding that his tour of duty in the ‘house on the hill’ allowed him to tour countries like China, South Arabia, Tanzania and, South Sudan just to mention a few.

“For the period I served as head cook at State House, I had no leave or off days, since the nature and volume of work would not allow me to do so. I, therefore, requested for a transfer since the work was very tedious and the fact that I was missing my family members in Baringo,” he says adding the closest he came to being honored with Head of State Commendation (HSC), was on Jamhuri day of 2007, but missed out due to some logistical issues.

“I am optimistic that one day I shall be honored for my work of serving two former presidents for 20 years,” he said, even as he appealed to the funeral committee, chaired by Interior CS Dr. Fred Matiang’i, to consider facilitating him to attend the burial of his former boss in his Othaya Home in Nyeri County since he missed that of the late President Moi and former First Lady Lucy Kibaki.

“I will appreciate it if I am invited to attend the ceremony so that I can pay my last respects to my boss, after missing out on the burial ceremonies of former first lady Lucy Kibaki, and Second President Daniel Moi,” he stressed.

The cook, who was born to a family of seven, and raised in the remote village of Kinyach in Baringo North Sub-County, joined school late, as his father preferred him to herd family livestock, thus curtailing his quest for education.

“Immediately I dropped out of school, I enrolled for a driving course in Eldoret and after completion, I again went to the village, where I served at the home of late retired president Moi’s longest-serving personal secretary John Lokorio.

He says that he worked for Lokorio as his farm manager at Kalabata, until when he rewarded him with employment at Eldoret State Lodge, where he started interacting with the late second president of the Republic of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi.

The Chairman of the South Rift Farmers Association Justus Monda has decried the inflated prices of farming inputs and the high cost of labour that has resulted in the labor reduction of maize production in the country.

Speaking today during a press conference at his Viwanda office, Monda said apart from the delayed rains and climate change, the high farming cost in the country has not been adequately addressed.

He said planting one acre of maize requires a minimum of Sh10, 000, an amount which most of the smallholder farmers, who own between two and five acres cannot afford.

The chairman appealed to the government to streamline and simplify the distribution of subsidized fertilizer, claiming that in most cases, wealthy households were given preference to the vulnerable farmers who required it most.

He suggested reducing the quantity of subsidized fertilizer to the bare minimum to make wealthy farmers shy away from it and enable poorer households to acquire the government-funded fertilizer.

In addition, he said the long queues, high cost of fare, transportation of the fertilizer from the NCPB to the farms, and the tedious process were constantly a discouragement to the vulnerable farmers.

However, he said despite their meager resources, the smallholder farmers produce 40 percent of the maize consumed in the country, and they have the capacity of producing more if they were supported according to their needs.

In addition, he said maize was the most affordable source of calories among the cereal grains, and it’s consumed by both the rich and poor, which makes it a basic food that cannot be ignored.

But, a maize researcher from the Njoro Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) John Wachira said local maize farmers were producing below capacity due to poor farming practices.

He noted that an acre of maize was supposed to produce a minimum of 28 bags and a maximum of 40 bags. Adding that last year, the production of maize declined from 44 million bags to 42.1 million bags, and he blamed the farmers for the continued decline.