KAGERA Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Albert Chalamila has called on the youth to venture into livestock keeping for poverty alleviating through self-employment.
He said they would be assured of a reliable market of their dairy products as there is an investor who has already established a milk processing factory.
“The government has created conducive environment for the youth to engage in dairy keeping. An investor has already established a milk processing factory in Karagwe District. Thus, there is a reliable market for the milk product,” he said.
He challenged livestock keepers to embrace zero grazing of livestock, noting that this mode is crucial as it focuses more on quality as opposed to quantity.
“Livestock keepers should avoid having big herds of unproductive cattle. Instead they should adopt modern dairy keeping which is more productive and economically viable,” he said.
Livestock Development Officer (LDO) at the Regional Secretariat, Mr Colman John explained that Kagera Region has set aside about 66,215.7 hectares for diary industry development under Mwisa 1l Project, thus inviting local and foreign investors to capitalize the opportunity through establishing milk and beef factories.
The region has good climate and abundant fertile soil suitable for large investments in the dairy industry.
“The eight councils had set aside 255,741.2 hectares for pasture areas, while 179,067 hectares (70 per cent) is under the National Ranching Company (NARCO).
Local and foreign investors should tap the economic benefits by establishing beef, milk and hides factories.
Kagera Region is suitable for large investments basing on its geographical location,” he said.
Kagera Region shares borders with four East African Community (EAC) nations-Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Kenya across Lake Victoria.
Kagera Region comprised five ranches under NARCO, namely Kitengule (41,700 hectares), Missenyi (60,851 hectares), Mabale (14,026 hectares), Kagoma (50,690 hectares) and Kikulula (12,700 hectares).
The ranches had been leased to 87 block owners out of whom 47 possess long-term contracts while 40 others had short-term contracts with a total of 49,212 cows, 4,207 goats and 928 sheep.
According to Mr John, the region had a total of 714,779 indigenous cows, 638,102 goats, 66,054 sheep, 71,261 pigs and 1,048,122 chickens.
Elaborating, he said the region had about 20,438 dairy cows with annual production of 46 million litres of milk, with each cow producing about 5 litres of milk per day while beef production stood at 5,000 tonnes per year.
During his recent tour in Kagera Region, the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development, Dr Mashimba Ndaki explained that the livestock sector plays a key role in the nation’s economy and called for concerted efforts from all the stakeholders including the private sector.
“The private sector plays a key role in the country’s ambition to achieve industrialisation. Authorities in the local governments should work closely and assist the private sector including the investors in the livestock sector, “he said.
