Robert Waweru, Reuters 2 Oct 09;
TURKANA, Kenya (Reuters) - Villagers in northwest Kenya squat in the sparse shade of an acacia tree and watch as aid workers slaughter their prized goats before distributing the meat to hungry people waiting for relief food.
Goats are the economic lifeblood of the minority Turkana tribe, who live around Kenya's second biggest lake and whose homeland is being ravaged by drought for a fifth year running.
Their misery is part of a broader disaster that aid agencies say is driving more than 23 million people in seven east African nations toward severe hunger and destitution.
Most nomadic ethnic groups in Kenya hold on to their animals and refuse to slaughter them even in times of severe drought, viewing them as their most valuable investment. Goat carcasses litter the area, among skeletons of long-dead cattle.
In desperation, Turkana villagers are now selling their precious animals to the European Union's humanitarian wing, ECHO, for prices well below their usual market price.
"The program buys animals from the community, slaughters them here and distributes the meat as relief food," ECHO official Martin Karimi told Reuters.
"They can't sell at market value because the market has collapsed. The animals are very weak and no one is willing to buy."
Since this April, ECHO says it has bought and killed more than 30,000 goats, 1,500 cattle and 20 camels as part of the destocking program, which is designed to help the pastoralists earn some money and also provide much needed food aid.
"It is so painful to see my goats dying ... I have lost count of how many I've lost," said local woman Esther Ekuwon as she waited with other women, some clutching hungry, crying babies, others holding onto emaciated goats ready for the knife.
Goats are more hardy than cattle, so are popular in the arid region. But temperatures of more than 36 degrees Centigrade and lack of water and pasture are still killing the animals.
Villagers say the area has seen no rain for the whole of this year, and that it only rained for one week in 2008.
Seasonal rains are due to start next month. But they are likely to bring only scant relief, and could even make matters worse by triggering floods that would destroy crops and homes, as well as increasing the spread of water-borne diseases.
ECHO is buying one goat for 800 shillings ($10.60), compared to the market rate of nearly 2,000 shillings before. They buy cows for 8,000 shillings and camels at 14,000 shillings.
The details of the animals handed over to ECHO are entered into a database, then the beasts are slaughtered immediately and the meat given to their owner and others who have lost animals.
ECHO hopes that its action will help keep the herders alive and give them a small kitty to start again when things improve.
"One of the reasons we are doing this is, hopefully, when the rains come, they can get new stock," Karimi said.
(Writing by Wangui Kanina; editing by Daniel Wallis and Philippa Fletcher)
($1=75.45 Kenyan Shilling)
