Nation Media Group’s Meat Expo sheds spotlight on business opportunities in meat economy
Kenya has an annual deficit of 300 metric tons of meat annually, giving investors a huge market to exploit as the country targets to be the next biggest exporter on the continent.
It has also emerged that Kenyans lose about Sh100 billion every year from the consumption of unsafe meat, which accounts for a majority of the foodborne illnesses reported in local hospitals.
According to experts, since the meat economy in Kenya is largely informal, most of the meat consumed locally is not safe for consumption as it does not undergo the proper treatment processes, therefore putting many Kenyans at risk of food poisoning.
Whereas the formal sector controls only about 18 percent (Sh1.2 trillion) of the meat economy, the informal sector dominates a whopping 82 percent of the economy.
“The fact that Kenya’s meat industry is largely informal is not only a health concern, but also means it is operating at a sub-optimal capacity and is uncompetitive because the livestock sector is fragmented and adds little value in the production and processing levels,” Livestock Principal Secretary, Harry Kimtai says.
Nation Media Group’s Meat Expo
The PS, who spoke during the Nation Media Group’s Meat Expo last week, noted that for the local meat industry to operate at its full potential, there is need to train meat retailers and introduce policies that will help increase the quality of meat and services in the sector.
“In 1988, Botswana came to benchmark Kenya's beef industry, currently, Botswana is Africa’s largest meat exporter to Europe. Something clearly needs to be done,” he said.
“Growth in Kenya's meat sector will raise the standard of living for livestock farmers, reduce our meat deficit, increase the export of meat products and improve our economy,” said PS Kimtai.
He said whereas Kenya is among the top three countries in Africa with the largest herds, it is yet to meet its citizens’ meat demands and needs an extra 300,000 tons to accomplish this.
The two-day expo, whose theme was ‘Safe and quality meat for nutrition, health and wealth creation’, sought to address some of these issues.
The expo was organised by NMG in partnership with the State Department for Livestock, Kenya Markets Trust, Retail Traders Association of Kenya, Kenya Meat Commission, Livestock Exporters Council of Kenya and Kenya Meat Institute.
Local meat sector
In attendance were farmers, traders, transporters, producers, among other players along the value chain.
The expo also featured discussions on possible solutions to the challenges facing the meat sector, the need for innovation, how to rebrand the local meat sector to rival other brands such as the Brazilian steak, and discussions on how the current industry’s policies are affecting the meat sector.
“Over 12 million Kenyans depend on the meat sector for their livelihoods. The demand for meat that is not met is about 300 metric tons annually, that means there is an opportunity for us to make money and we should use events such as this expo to exploit that opportunity,” said NMG CEO, Stephen Gitagama.
The expo also highlighted the need for the country to capitalise on the growing demand for meat in the export market to expand its agricultural GDP. Kenya currently exports meat to 10 countries.
Followed by Saudi Arabia, Dubai is the biggest importer of Kenya’s meat, the country exports 25 tons of meat per day. In 2018, meat exports from Kenya were valued at Sh5.8 billion.