Kenya has become the hottest oil and gas venue in East Africa since big discoveries were made in the country's virgin oilfields last April. All eyes are on Kenya in 2013 to see how quickly--and economically they can develop those discoveries into production.

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The Kenyan Ministry of Public Health ordered public health officials to remove all genetically modified foods on the market and to enforce a ban on GM imports following a Nov. 8 Kenyan Cabinet and Presidential decree.

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The number of policemen killed in an ambush by bandits in Kenya's Samburu region has risen to 42 after the discovery of 14 more bodies in a forest in the Suguta Valley.

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Armed cattle raiders killed at least 32 Kenyan police officers in a military-style ambush, officials said on Monday, calling it the worst attack on police in Kenya's history.

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Kenyan police say cattle rustlers have ambushed police in the country's remote north, killing at least 12 officers.

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Hirteen people are feared dead after two warring communities turned against each other in Samburu County.

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Hundreds of armed raiders killed at least 38 villagers and torched more than 150 houses on Monday in the latest fighting between rival tribes in a dispute over land and water in Kenya's coastal region.

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Responding to deadly terrorist attacks targeting churches Sunday, Kenya’s prime minister warned Monday of the danger posed to the broader region if Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab – the suspected perpetrators of the attacks – teams up with similarly-minded groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria.

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Kenyan Vice president, Kalonzo Musyoka’s China tour has brought investors to Kenya, among them Yurun Food International, the pig producer.

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Livestock could turn Kenya’s drought-stricken northern lands into an engine of job creation, rather than a sinkhole for emergency aid, the minister for the region has said.

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Kenya risks losing its key Middle East meat export market due to unscrupulous traders who forge Kenya Meat Commission stamps to export poor quality meat products that fail the test of food health standards and Islamic dietary guidelines (halal).

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US cattle genetics producers and exporters will likely experience declining demand and market share in Kenya consistent with the declining farm size of small-scale farmers.

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A new effort to align the work of partners in eastern Africa and implement more synergetic research on Rift Valley fever was the focus of a recent multi-stakeholder workshop that reviewed research strategies and approaches used by veterinarians, epidemiologists, economists and public health experts in projects across Kenya.

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Efficiency of livestock systems must be improved – UN report

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The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) received follow-up report no. 1 yesterday, 28 November. The two affected villages were Kiambu and Thika. In Kiambu, six pigs from a farm near the municipal town were affected, while in Thika, 34 pigs came into contact with wild pigs that came to feed at a nearby dumping site.

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A new study by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Livestock Policy Initiative (LPI), which worked with national partners, concludes that livestock’s contribution to Kenya’s agricultural GDP is a whopping two and a half times larger than the official estimate for 2009.

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According to AllAfrica.com, the chicken traders who protested last week at the market accuse the council of planning to convert the slaughterhouse into 24-hour hotel and butchery. They said when the council closed down the slaughterhouse in 2006 because of a bird flu epidemic, it had promised to reopen it as soon.

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Poultry farmers in Kenya are facing an uncertain future following investment into a company which is no longer purchasing poultry and their products.

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Known as Index Based Livestock Insurance or IBLI, payouts are triggered when satellite images show that grazing lands in the region have deteriorated to the point that herders are expected to be losing more than 15 per cent of their herd. The current readings for which indemnities are now being paid show that between 18 and 33 percent of livestock have been lost to drought this season.

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Farmers who have invested thousands of shillings (KES) in what has been a lucrative poultry business for years now face an uncertain future, according to The Nation of Kenya.

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Farmers who have invested thousands of shillings (KES) in what has been a lucrative poultry business for years now face an uncertain future, according to The Nation of Kenya.

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You can't buy a Big Mac in Kenya. There are no Burger Kings. But there's good news for chicken lovers: KFC just opened its first restaurant in East Africa.

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When Kenya set up a ministry dedicated to developing its vast, arid north in 2008, placing a veteran humanitarian at its helm, it appeared to send a message that it was finally serious about reversing decades of marginalization and the effects of recurrent, inevitable weather shocks.

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KFC has recently opened its first restaurant in East Africa, according to The Associated Press, and in doing so it is the first American fast-food outlet in East Africa's most developed economy.

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A drought in Kenya killed livestock worth 64.2 billion shillings ($690 million), including 3.5 million head of Zebu cattle, the Daily Nation reported, citing Livestock Development Permanent Secretary Kenneth Lusaka.

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With increased trade in livestock products offering a possible antidote to high food prices, livestock experts from the Middle East and 12 African countries are meeting this week in Dubai to develop a strategy that eliminates the need to impose devastating bans on livestock imports from the Horn of Africa, as prevention against the spread of Rift Valley fever.

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Grain losses after harvests in sub- Saharan Africa cost about $4 billion a year, the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization said in a report.

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Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and eastern Uganda are most affected. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 8.4 million people are in need of food aid in the region, according to spokesman David Orr. Thousands of livestock have already died in Kenya and Ethiopia from animal diseases associated with the drought. The severity this year will depend on the rainy season between March and May.

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A novel livestock insurance scheme for poor pastoral herders in Kenya’s Marsabit District, initiated by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with private sector and other partners, has won the inaugural Vision 2030 ICT Innovation Award.

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Vision 2030 is the grandiose dream crafted by technocrats detailing how Kenya is meant to develop into a middle income economy providing high quality life to its citizens.

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Sainsbury's is holding a series of talks with its African and Fairtrade producers in Nairobi this week to encourage closer relationships with its supply chain in the developing world and to discuss the global future of food and farming.

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The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) received an immediate notification on Friday, 4 March. The outbreak was first observed on 7 December 2010, and confirmed on 12 January. The affected population consists of subsistence farms around the towns.

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The ministry is seeking Sh1.5 billion from the Treasury to help in its response to the ongoing drought.The dry spell has affected more than three million people dependent on livestock.

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While 75 per cent of Kenya's workforce is involved in agriculture, most farmers have about one half to one hectare of land and look to providing little more than their families and some local markets. A new social enterprise plans to help educate and finance farmers in the country to take the next step to becoming a farming venture, by sourcing small amounts of money to enable them to expand their business.

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Animal health and nutrition company, Novus International has announced a new Novus Scholars partnership with Egerton University located near Nakuru, Kenya.

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Novus International Inc., a global leader in animal health and nutrition, has announced a new Novus Scholars partnership with Egerton University located near Nakuru, Kenya. The agreement, signed earlier this month, details how Novus International will assist the University in developing its local capacity as well as support the local feed industry by providing equipment and training.

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A new report by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) suggests that the liberalization of informal milk markets has producers, vendors and consumers reaping large from an improved value chain.

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The inaugural Kenchic Arbor Acres Seminar was held in Nairobi on 13 and 14 September, attended by representatives from leading poultry farms and hatcheries from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

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More than 150 member States to the Cartagena Protocol on Bio safety have adopted a supplementary agreement on liability and redress at an ongoing conference in Japan.

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The inaugural Kenchic Arbor Acres Seminar was held in Nairobi on 13 and 14 September, attended by representatives from leading poultry farms and hatcheries from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

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In the past two years, the project has focused on improving the dairy incomes of over 170,000 dairy farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. In Kenya, interventions to improve dairy production in Kenya’s Rift Valley province are transforming the lives of farmers like Florence Chepkirui.

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The Kenya Poultry Association is lobbying the government to put in place a new policy that will increase farmers' income from egg production, according to Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

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Kenya produced 34,465 tonnes of sugar, white value, in May 2010, down sharply from 46,002 in the same month last year, Kenya Sugar Board data show.

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A new study by the International Livestock Research Institute has found that reductions in greenhouse gases could be worth $1 billion dollars to poor livestock farmers if they could sell saved carbon on international markets.

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The inferior semen and inefficient distribution mechanisms to farmers has contributed to low quality of cow breeds resulting in reduced milk production and meat quantity, reports Business Daily.

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USING kikuyu grass as a pasture base has led to a multitude of benefits for Kangaroo Island prime lamb producer Ian Green, Angle Poll, Kingscote. For the past two years, Ian has used kikuyu grass to stop erosion and boost lambing rates.

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President Mwai Kibaki has urged Kenyans to effectively play their individual and collective roles in building a new country under the new constitution which they overwhelmingly adopted in last week's referendum. Saluting Kenyans for exercising their democratic right and participating in the national referendum, the President said that the coming into effect of the new constitution will renew the country's hope of achieving middle income status as outlined under Vision Twenty Thirty.

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Large-scale land ownership poses big risks to local people as they could lose land and resources they have used for generations, a new global report says. The report, Alternatives to large land acquisitions in developing nations published last month, said local smallholders, rather than large plantations, were more promising investments.

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The recent protests by large-scale wheat farmers in Narok against the government's move to reduce import duty on wheat to 10 per cent (down from 25) brought into sharp focus past policy moves by the State to incentivise agricultural production and reduce food prices.

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The high cost of inputs and unavailability of stock are hurting poultry farming in Kenya, reports Business Daily. Production costs have doubled in the past year despite Kenyans’ adoption of healthy lifestyles that has seen wider uptake of chicken. Growth has stagnated over the past 5 years mostly due to lack of incentives, said the Kenya Poultry Farmers Association (Kepofa).

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Production costs have doubled in the last one year despite Kenyans' adoption of healthy lifestyles that has seen wider uptake of chicken, according to Business Daily Africa. Growth has stagnated over the last five years mostly due to lack of incentives, said the Kenya Poultry Farmers Association (Kepofa).

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Agriculture registered slowed growth last year as drought, high input prices and depressed demand reduced harvests and earnings for farmers. According to the 2010 Economic Survey, the growth in farming contracted by 2.7 per cent. This is the second straight year the sector, which accounts for 25 per cent of the economy, has recorded decline, having gone down by 4.3 per cent in 2008.

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Kenya’s fight against dwindling food stocks is getting support from an unlikely source: Villagers who have traditionally engaged each other in cattle-rustling wars. They have decided to change their way of life and are now engaged in farming and growing maize on large scale.

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An Australian company setting up a mineral sands mine in Kenya says the African country is less risky to invest in than Australia. Base Iron is in advanced negotiations with the government there to start mining mineral sands. Managing director Tim Carstens says Kenya has based its mining regulatory and taxation framework on Australia's, but the our new tax on mining profits makes it an even more attractive destination.

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Kenyan agricultural stocks rose to the highest in at least 18 months and electricity shares soared as the meteorological department forecast more rain for the country, ending more than three years of drought. Tea producer Kakuzi Ltd. surged 9.9 percent, extending the biggest two-day gain in six years to 19 percent, the largest since Dec. 15, 2004.

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The African Development Bank has approved its 2010-2014 agricultural sector strategy. The strategy seeks to position the bank to contribute more effectively to agriculture. It is expected to enhance the continent’s food security and reduce poverty levels while promoting conservation of natural resources.

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The production of coffee in Africa could help meet worldwide demand and improve global sustainability but it is held back by a lack of investment, experts claim.

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Kenyan agricultural stocks rose to at least 15-month highs as the country’s weather office predicted more rainfall and the weaker shilling was seen as providing a boost for commodity exports

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Researchers from the Centre for Infectious Diseases are to work with Kenyan and Nigerian scientists to find new ways of tackling cattle disease, which can impact farmers’ livelihoods as well as human health

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The government of Kenya and the donor community should act fast to preserve the way of life of nomadic people

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