Garissa will from next week conduct a mass vaccination of livestock against lumpy skin, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and foot and mouth diseases. There is often an outbreak of the diseases after floods and heavy rains like was experienced in November and December. Agriculture and livestock executive Mohamed Shale on Monday said there were already reports of an outbreak of the disease across the county. More than 400,000 livestock are targeted. Shale said a majority of the animals are in Ijara, Dadaab and Balambala constituencies. Shale asked livestock owners to avail their animals in designated areas for the vaccination drive. “We have received reports of outbreaks of diseases in the sub-counties of Balambala, Dadaab and Ijara. We have some funds on emergency and decided to use it for the exercise,” Shale said. He spoke during a one-day forum for farmers on valued addition in Garissa. The event was organised by the Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme. “I want to appeal to the members of the public to ensure that their livestock is out in the designated areas that are going to be announced to them. Let us all pass this information to everyone so that all the targeted animals are vaccinated,” he said. The executive said the vaccination drive is part of a wider campaign to ensure livestock are free from diseases. Garissa ASDSP coordinator Ahmed Hassan said the forum was meant to address key issues in livestock value addition including increasing production and tackling challenges. “We are anticipating a lot of problems because of the floods caused by recent rains. In the midst of all these problems, we want to know how to add value to our animals and their products,” Hassan said. “We want to move from where we have businessmen and women who only bring raw products to the market. We want them to be entrepreneurs who add value to the products." Ijara farmer Mohamed Jubat said their main challenge was a ready market for their products. Jubat urged the county to establish cottage industries to process and package their farm produce. "That way, we can guarantee a ready market for the products throughout the year," he said. Jubat also called for the upgrading of access roads so farmers can quickly transport perishable produce to the market in good time. “Most of the roads leading to the farms are in a poor state, causing huge losses to farmers as a result of delays,” Jubat said. Source - https://www.the-star.co.ke