Controversy Erupts Over New Livestock Bill’s Strict Feed Requirements

Controversy erupts as Kenya's new Livestock Bill threatens small-scale farmers with strict animal feed production and distribution rules. The bill requires burdensome registration and certification for any feed-related activities, even informal ones, sparking backlash from rural farming advocates.

A controversial new section in Kenya’s proposed Livestock Bill 2023 is causing an uproar among small-scale farmers across the country. The bill sets forth strict new regulations on the production, manufacture, processing, storage, transport, and distribution of animal feeds.

Buried in the lengthy legalese of the bill is a requirement that any person engaged in any feed-related activities, whether for commercial or personal use, must be registered with the government and obtain an official certification.

This means that small-scale farmers who produce their own animal feeds to cut costs or sell small excess quantities to neighbors could face hefty penalties for failing to formally register as feed producers and sellers.

controversial excerpt from the animal feeds regulations of 2023

The bill states: “A person shall not, whether as a business operator or otherwise, handle any feedstuff by way of engaging in any operation of production, manufacture, processing, storage, transport or distribution unless the person has been validly registered under this regulation and issued with a registration certificate.”

Kenya Livestock (Animal Feeds) Regulations, 2023

Threat to Livelihoods

For farmers who have informal arrangements within their communities to share resources, this clause threatens to impose excessive red tape and bureaucracy. Small farmer cooperatives are protesting that the expense and effort of formal registration would make casual feed-sharing and sale arrangements unworkable.

Many family farms operate on slim margins and have relied on cost savings from animal feed production and sales within trusted local networks. Taking away this supplementary income stream could drive some smallholders out of business entirely.

Calls for Exemptions

Rural farmers’ advocates argue that the bill fails to distinguish between commercial feed producers and ordinary farmers just trying to get by. They warn that the burdensome new registration rules could end up penalizing and even jailing well-intentioned people for non-compliance.

As the Livestock Bill heads towards potential approval, leaders of agricultural communities are ramping up calls for lawmakers to add exemptions for small-scale, informal feed production and distribution.

Without such carve-outs, small farmers could face a crisis just trying to comply with rigid new bureaucratic feed-handling policies. The coming months will determine whether authorities truly support the needs of regular rural farmers under this controversial bill.

Billy O.

Biosystems Engineer who writes. Email: billy@agriculture.co.ke Phone: 0714-004949

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