Only science can boost income from donkeys
Low reproduction rates among donkeys is the main stumbling block to Kenya’s livestock keepers earning millions of dollars in foreign exchange from exports of the animal’s skin and meat products.
In 2018, donkey skin dealers earned an estimated Sh1.72 billion in meat products, with a chunk of this coming from the four registered abattoirs in Machakos, Turkana, Baringo and Naivasha.
The licensing of the abbatoirs has created hunddreds of jobs for the locals and earned public revenue for the national and county governments.
Breeding methods
However, the owners lose working animals at home and income for those who use donkeys for work.
Gelatin produced from donkey hide is a key ingredient for China’s popular traditional remedies, known as ejiao and used to treat conditions such as colds and insomnia.
Donkeys have a 12 to 14 month gestation period and are unlikely to get pregnant until the foal is grown, about usually four years.
Artificial insemination has not worked for the donkey either. It is sold to abbatoirs at about Sh20,000 when fully grown, compared to calves at about Sh80,0000, making rearing of donkeys unviable.
“China has tried, but its donkey population has plunged from 10 million to three million in 10 years. Only new scientific methods for breeding donkeys can save the situation,” says Samuel Theuri of Brooke, a non-governmental organisations (NGO) assisting farmers.
Cross-border trade
Farmers and NGOs are calling for a total ban on the illicit donkey skin trade bringing in the millions in foreign exchange, saying it leaves rural communities destitute. The trade has depleted donkey populations in the East African region.
Crackdowns in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia (which closed its donkey abattoirs after public protests) have led to thousands of donkeys now being smuggled across the border to be slaughtered in Kenyan abattoirs.
While the government admits some restrictions should be imposed, shutting existing abattoirs worth millions of dollars could be difficult and mean loss of jobs.
“We have stopped approvals of more slaughterhouses and are also putting increased restrictions on existing ones in terms of the animals they can harvest,” Chief Veterinary Officer Obadiah Njagi told Reuters recently.
Experts warn that as early as 2023, Kenya’s donkey population could be exterminated if nothing is done by authorities to curb the nightmare.
Speaking during a recent two-day conference on Donkey Skin Trade in Nairobi, the CEO of Brooke Global (an NGO), Petra Ingram called on the government to save rural communities by addressing wanton theft and slaughter of donkeys. “In Kenya, we are losing on average 1,000 donkeys a day,” she said.
“This means in a few years, there will be no donkeys left. Kenya has proven to be a big hub of the donkey slaughter business and we are calling on government to ban and close down the abattoirs,” Ingram said.
She said hundreds of families are losing revenue after their animals are killed, estimated at Sh11, 390 per month from each animal. “So we are urging the State to implement policies to protect donkeys,” she added.
Data from the four donkey slaughterhouses shows that 301,977 were slaughtered between 2016 to 2018, an average of 100,659 donkeys annually.
This is 5.1 per cent of the country’s donkey population of 1,965,632 in 2016 —a rate five times higher than the donkey population growth rate of 1.04 per cent annually.
Ugandan Activist Lucy Akello from Karamojong Province decried rising cross-border trade in live donkeys between Kenya and Uganda, which is devastating families in Uganda.
“Livestock means a lot to the Karamojong because the animals represent food and wealth, particularly donkeys,” she said.
However, from 2016 donkeys are threatened by sales to traders or theft. “It is not rare for owners to lose donkeys and find their carcases in the bushes while the skins are taken away for commercial purposes,” said Akello.
Livestock owner Josephine Sintalo of Narok county has lost lost six donkeys to thieves. She believes a cartel is facilitating the trade, yet donkeys are not only used as a means of transport as their milk is medicinal.
“For us mothers who are pastoralists, the donkeys is a valuable asset,” says Sintalo, adding that that all abattoirs should be closed.
