DRIVE program transforms pastoralist livelihoods across Kenya's arid counties

"So far we've been able to do over 250,000 households or pastoralists and ensured their animals against drought so that when a drought hits, then they get a payout that enables them to go and buy animal feed for their animals," explained Jonathan Mueke, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Livestock Development.

The program has delivered Ksh.4.5 billion in benefits to over 238,000 pastoralists, impacting more than 1.5 million household members, with government support providing Ksh.2.5 billion in premium subsidies.

Beyond drought protection, DRIVE supports the entire livestock value chain through partnerships with the Kenya Development Corporation.

"What we are doing is we are encouraging the pastoralists to not just keep their animals forever, but to raise them so that they can be able to sell them when they are in need to the market," Mueke noted.

The program has organised pastoralists into farmer-producer organisations to address smallholder challenges.

"Most of our farming is smallholder. So, people have three cows, five goats, but the market tells you they want a thousand goats a week," Mueke explained.

These organizations enable pastoralists to aggregate animals and access larger markets, particularly for export.

Women make up 60 per cent of policyholders, while the program has created over 33,000 direct and indirect jobs within the livestock value chain. Over 1,250 county officials have been trained to support the project.

"DRIVE is not just about payouts, it's about protecting our national food systems, empowering rural families, and building a drought-ready Kenya," said Mueke.

Currently, at midterm, the program plans to scale up protection and extend benefits to more households.

"We are quite happy with DRIVE where it is right now. Today we've had a quite lengthy meeting with all the stakeholders to agree on what to do in the next half of DRIVE so that we can create maximum impact," the PS Livestock concluded.