Africa-Press – Kenya. Reopening donkey slaughterhouses in the country will not create more jobs but instead propel donkey-keeping communities to extreme poverty. This according to the Association of Donkey Owners in Kenya (ADOK) and the Alliance of Donkey Welfare Organisations in Kenya (ADWOK).
“The whole idea to create employment and boost trade with the reopening of slaughter warehouses does not make any sense,” said Titus Sagala, the chairman at ADWOK. He said the benefits of working donkeys to the small communities in Kenya outweigh the projected employment opportunities and revenue contribution.
“A donkey trades at an average cost of Sh15,000. A working one could generate up to Sh11,390 of household income in a month and supports up to seven family members,” he said.
He said keeping the animal is of much benefit to the households as it could generate close to Sh132,000 in a year, compared to selling it for slaughter.
Sagala said for the three years the four slaughterhouses were in operation in the country, between 2016 and 2018, the facilities only employed 657 workers, who earned a daily wage of Sh423. The slaughterhouses were located in Nakuru, Baringo, Turkana and Machakos counties.
The debate comes follows an announcement by Agriculture and Livestock CS Mithika Linturi that the government’s plan to reconsider the reopening of donkey mass slaughter in a bid to address unemployment.
“If lifting the ban will ensure that young people go back to work, then I will make sure that everything that is possible is done so that they can get employment,” Linturi said in Baringo.
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), on the status of donkey slaughter and its implication shows that within the three years that the practice was on-going, 301,977 of the country’s donkey population was decimated.
This accounted for 15.4 per cent of the total donkey population by 2019. “The annual mean rate of donkeys slaughtered, 5.1 per cent was five times higher than the annual donkey population growth rate at 1.04 per cent,” says the report. The donkey population in Kenya has shrunk from 1.9 million in the 2009 census to 1.1 million in the 2019 census.
For More News And Analysis About Kenya Follow Africa-Press
