Eating more meat appeal ironic on one meal average capacity

There are things that people scarcely need to be asked to do more, and this includes a whole gamut of wishes which actually serve their own interests, both rational and selfish, and the consumption of meat follows in this order of things. Asking people to eat more meat is like asking cats to drink more milk, if they can.

What was rather captivating in that appeal were the statistics, both impressive and forlorn, in the sense that Tanzania is impressive for its large livestock population, but anyone familiar with the political map of Africa would scarcely relish that datum.

Countries with large cattle populations are almost constantly at war, like Nigeria in its northern part, South Sudan, Sudan itself, Somalia, Ethiopia and even some members of the East African Community. It isn’t a pleasant economic model.

Within the country, hardly any part at a district and even regional level would relish to have one thousand more head of cattle to start rampaging looking for ‘greener pastures’ amid drought.

Instances of fighting and maiming between livestock keepers and farmers are too numerous to repeat, and efforts to place livestock keeping on a different pedestal, as beef cattle and milk cattle have by and large failed. Livestock keeping isn’t an enterprise but a vocation by nature.

What however cannot be doubted is that no other item on the food consumption market is as prized as meat, and in urban areas for instance meat is a necessary ingredient for any outdoor food sale, except for the poorer sections, who do nearly without meat.

Yet the reason is not lifestyle or choice as the minister seemed to imply, if distantly, but purchasing power. It can’t be said that the minister saw meat consumption as limited by purchasing power, as that elicits no such appeal.

That doesn’t mean that the minister was simply mistaken in his appeal, as his appeal coincides with current pressures for setting up of industries and a meat packaging plant is one of the leading items on the table.

Yet from what the minister said and data provided by this newspaper, meat consumption remains minimal in per capita terms and export capacity said to be virtually non-existent.

Fact: these two facets of the situation will not be resolved by setting up a packaging plant, and instead there is a real possibility that such an enterprise meet teething problems of how it inserts itself into the current economic environment and obtain a market niche.

It is clear that purchasing power is not enhanced by having packaged meat in the neighborhood, nor is export capacity ensured by having a meat plant as the main prospective market. The Middle East is awash with halal rules, but often picks its raw meat from Somalia to avoid exporting live animals.

The distance is minimized and Somalia, despite the chaos sells meat to the Middle East in a privileged manner owing to hahal rules, the same way as how Nairobi sells flowers to Europe.

That is why this business must be left to the private sector to sort out, not by subsidies.