The Livestock Bill of 2026

The proposed legislation aims to overhaul sector regulation, disease control, and market access, though it has sparked intense debate over costs, compliance burdens, and punitive penalties. 

The bill must make deliberate to direct the future of livestock production to enable Kenya competitiveness.

Key proposals

1. Establishment of the Livestock Sector Transformation Fund as a dedicated Fund administered by the Principal Secretary to support strategic programs, mitigate livestock disasters, finance trade, facilitate agro-processing & stabilisation of prices. 

2. The Livestock Sector Transformation Fund will generate proceeds from parliamentary appropriations; regulatory levies & fees; external support such as grants; income generated from investments made by the Fund

3. Establishment of the Livestock Inputs & Products Regulatory Authority replacing the National Livestock Development & Promotion Service. This will regulate animal feedstuffs, livestock equipment, genetics utilisation, production inputs, & sub-sectors like poultry, piggery, & apiculture

4. Unbundles livestock research from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) to establish the Kenya Livestock Research Organisation

5. Establishment of the Livestock & Livestock Products Marketing Board to oversee market intelligence, trade promotion, export financing, & infrastructure development (export processing zones, cold storage, holding facilities)

6. Replacing the Replaces the Kenya Leather Development Council with the Kenya Leather Development Authority. The authority will focus on regulating leather value-chain actors, establishing leather industrial parks, & supporting SMEs & tech incubation

The bill must adopt genetics that are globally competitive.

Link to bill: parliament.go.ke/sites/default