The county government of Samburu has called upon investors and development partners to invest in Baragoi saying it is now peaceful and safe.
The area has for years been in the limelight for frequent conflict occasioned by bandit attacks, cattle rustling, the proliferation of illegal small arms and murders.
Samburu County Deputy Governor, Gabriel Lenengwesi asked development partners to focus on Samburu North and invest in sectors such as water, medical services and infrastructure among others.
“We will work together and ensure that residents enjoy as much fruits of development as any other Kenyans in the rest of Kenya,” he said.
Lenengwesi was speaking at the Maralal Safari Lodge during the inaugural Samburu County Resilience Knowledge Fair, a one-day event organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Resilience Learning Activity (RLA).
RLA’s theme is ‘strengthening community learning to increase adaptive capacity to shocks and stresses’.
The main objective of the fair is to enhance learning among stakeholders working in Samburu and has brought together development partners, national and county government institutions and organisations, the private sector and members of the public among other stakeholders.
National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) called on communities in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) to embrace irrigation as a way of enhancing food and nutrition security as well as economic empowerment.
“ASALs like Samburu are endowed with fertile soils and the only limitation to a thriving crop production sector is water, therefore we must get a way to provide water and facilitate agriculture,” said NDMA Samburu Assistant Drought Information Officer, Losenge Koolik
Koolik called for diversified economic activities in the region saying over-dependence on livestock keeping was a major contributor to slow development.
“We must rise from just depending on livestock keeping and embrace ventures such as beekeeping and poultry rearing as a way of empowering our communities,” he said.
He urged pastoralist communities to desist from taking livestock keeping as a cultural venture and for prestige and instead commercialise animal keeping to earn income.
A person who has a high number of cattle, goats, sheep and camels is considered wealthy and culturally held high and respected.
However, Koolik noted that the same people who are held in high place sometime lack basic needs which they would cater for by selling off some of their livestock.
The recent drought which hardly hit the ASAL areas and was the worst in the last 40 years left livestock keepers with hefty losses as animals died due to starvation.