The role of the media in promoting and facilitating the adoption of agricultural technologies cannot be gainsaid. It sensitizes and educates the public on new technologies hence stimulating dialogue on their effective utilization. Equally, the media is an important player in addressing emerging agricultural challenges occasioned by climate change and other dynamics. Balanced and consistent reporting of farmers’ plight in the face of these challenges is instrumental in shaping agricultural policies.
It is against this backdrop that ISAAA AfriCenter takes the lead in media engagement and outreach on emerging agricultural issues whose solution lies in biotech intervention. In January this year (2022), ISAAA AfriCenter and partners organized media outreach visits to several livestock farms across the country. The objective of the visits was to familiarize journalists with the dire situation of animal feeds in Kenya with the ultimate goal of highlighting the plight of livestock farmers and feed manufacturers in the face of an adverse shortage of feeds in the country.
The country faces a massive shortage of livestock feeds, a situation that has forced the price of the few available feeds to skyrocket making them unaffordable. The expensive cost of feeds has led to the closures of both livestock farming enterprises and many feed mills. A number of other feed millers have been downsizing their production, leading to massive job losses at a time when the unemployment rate due to COVID-19 pandemic is at its highest.
The shortage has been occasioned by the frequent crop failure caused by biotic and abiotic constraints to crop and animal production. In such situations, domestic production is not able to meet the demand and therefore, the need to import grains (mainly maize) and legumes (mainly soybean) becomes inevitable.
Feed shortage in Kenya has been compounded by a ban on the importation of genetically modified (GM) foods which has made it impossible for local food and feed processors to access GM feeds which are cheap and readily available in the global market.
Realizing the role of the media in shaping public policies and transforming lives, AfriCenter mobilized more than 15 local and national media organizations to visit cattle, poultry and pig farms to highlight how this challenge has negatively impacted on production.
Twelve (12) media stories were published or aired, highlighting and amplifying farmers’ misery in the face of the high cost of the little available feeds. One resounding message from these stories is a passionate call by farmers appealing to the Government to allow the importation of GM feed ingredients which are relatively cheap and readily available on the global market. The stories garnered a staggering 16.7 million impressions.
MEDIA STORIES – ANIMAL FEED CRISIS: NEED FOR GM FEEDS TO CUSHION THE LIVESTOCK FEED SHORTAGE
| Media House | Title and link to the stories | Date Published |
| The Star | Pig farming plagued by high cost of feeds, says farmer https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/star-farmer/2022-01-12-pig-farming-plagued-by-high-cost-of-feeds-says-farmer/ |
12-Jan-2022 |
| KBC Channel 1 | Farmers venture into pork processing to increase income https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXZr6NbuXtU |
14-Jan-2022 |
| Citizen TV | Scientists and farmers push for lifting of ban on importation of GMO products https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=woHI1klW9mw |
14-Jan-2022 |
| Inooro TV | Farmers plead with the Gov’t to Allow Importations of GMOs for Feed manufacturing to save livestock Industry https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=73gK60g2sJQ | 14-Jan-2022 |
| Kameme | Livestock Farmers urge government to lift ban on GMO https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yC5DfnRMhXUwZd7F90bORyqA3ubO8KV8/view?usp=sharing |
21st Jan- 2022 |
| Kameme | Feed Manufacturers complain about the high cost of making feeds in the country due to strict rules GMOs. https://youtu.be/770F0V6wOzY | 21st Jan- 2022 |
| Inooro TV | The plight of livestock farmers in Kenya https://youtu.be/3R6U0unNBXA | 21st Jan- 2022 |
| NTV | Dairy feed manufacturers call upon govt to ease stance on GMO products https://youtu.be/oMMxDHYO6O0 |
22nd Jan- 2022 |
| Radio Maisha | Poultry Farmers call on Gov’t to reduce cost of feeds https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K8bKZTCjJWm2qcQ6u0a22WJA8A7WiNOX/view?usp=sharing |
24th Jan- 2022 |
| Citizen | Farmers Call on the government to reduce the Cost of Animal Feeds in the Country https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hg9aW1BfjPS83awxzHZNYsedGoO9_ucF/view?usp=sharing |
25th Jan- 2022 |
| The Star Newspaper | Poultry cooperative transforms lives of Kiambu farmers https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/star-farmer/2022-01-25-poultry-cooperative-transforms-lives-of-kiambu-farmers/ |
26th Jan- 2022 |
| Inooro Radio | Call for Government to all GMO for animal feed production https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-fvSQKmkKd5enqrRxXeQxeIGsbnlYiUw/view?usp=sharing |
28th Jan – 2022 |