Ethiopia and Kenya are jointly working to address issues of climate change and improve the livelihood of pastoralist communities, Kenya State Department Head for Livestock Bernard Kimoro told ENA.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, the head noted that issues around climate change have been affecting both Kenya and Ethiopia equally because they share the same kind of resources.
‘We have our common pastoralists who stay both in Kenya and Ethiopia. So, they share the resources,’ he added.
According to him, one of the ways Kenya has been undertaking cross border interventions is through projects.
Currently, the country has a project called De-risking Inclusion and Value Enhancement for Pastoralists.
This is a Horn of Africa region project that covers four countries, the head said, adding that Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are also carrying out the project which is supposed to help pastoralists address issues of loss of livestock by supporting them early enough to be able to purchase feeds.
The othe
r component, according to Kimoro, is helping pastoralists to get some loans and grants to support the production of forages, and also go into businesses so that they can make them more resilient to these climate variability.
‘We (Ethiopia and Kenya) have long term cooperation. We had a project called Regional Pastoral Livelihood Resilience Project. The fact that we have joint markets where pastoralists can market their animals, for example, is a very important aspect because animals are always on the move. So, if there’s market in Ethiopia, we can take animals to Ethiopia and sell them. Likewise, animals from Ethiopia can be sold in Kenya,’ Kimoro said.
The head believes that the countries can also do the same during droughts, whether in water or forage resources, in either part of the border.
The Borana in Kenya and Ethiopia have, for instance, been coexisting on both sides of the border, sharing resources. ‘I mean, these are same communities separated by an imaginary border and we keep sharing some of th
ese resources,’ he stressed.
Commenting on Ethiopia’s tree planting program, Kimoro said that there is currently a national policy to plant 15 billion trees in Kenya.
‘Actually, the reason why we’re doing this is because we have also seen the impacts of this from what has happened in Ethiopia.’
Kimoro explained that planting trees has many benefits. One of them of course is that it improves the ecosystem.
‘If you have higher temperature, animals will not produce enough. So, as you plant trees you plant also the feeds for the animals, which means you are able to support the animals even during times of drought, which is very critical.’
Source: Ethiopian News Agency