Located at Pamba ward in Katakwi Town Council, the abattoir has two solar-powered boreholes, feeding troughs with fly-proof nets, incinerator, refuse pit, store, offices, four stance toilets, bathroom, meat rails and four holding grounds for cattle, goats and sheep.
The newly
built multi-million modern abattoir in Katakwi District has started operating. The
Shillings 600 million abattoir was built with funding from the Agriculture,
Animal Industry and Fisheries Ministry under the Regional Pastoral Livelihood Resilience
Project.
Located at
Pamba ward in Katakwi Town Council, the abattoir has two solar-powered
boreholes, feeding troughs with fly-proof nets, incinerator, refuse pit, store,
offices, four stance toilets, bathroom, meat rails and four holding grounds for
cattle, goats and sheep.
The abattoir,
which has the capacity of handling the slaughter of ten animals at ago, was
constructed by the China Geo construction cooperation limited over a period of
one year. The abattoir was constructed alongside other marketing and production
infrastructure comprising a livestock market, holding ground, quarantine
station in Olilim and Adai valley tank in Usuk among other things.
According to
Katakwi district officials, all the facilities constructed under the resilience
project that kicked off in 2015 cost Shillings 3.8billion. Katakwi Town Council
has been relying on a small slaughter slab with some butchers illegally
slaughtering some animals in the bush.
Dr. Ariko
Onyait, the Katakwi District Veterinary Officer, says it has been very
difficult to control animal slaughter in the absence of such a modern facility.
He believes that the meat will now be safe compared to the previous times
when people would even slaughter sick animals in the bushes and sell it to the
public.
//Cue in: “And all those….
Cue out…to touch down,”//
Vincent
Enomu, the Katakwi Resident District Commissioner-RDC who commissioned the
facility cautioned butchers against slaughtering animals in the bush saying
their intelligence shows that most of the animals are stolen. He said they have resolved to step patrols to
stem animal thefts.
//Cue in: “I want to call….
Cue out…security personnel,”//
Charles
Ilukor, the Chairperson Katakwi butchers Association was grateful for the
facility saying they can now manage to keep animals for some time before
slaughtering because there is holding ground in the abattoir. He warns
the farmers against selling to them treated animals so that they maintain the
quality meat being slaughtered.
Stephen Eligu
Freelancer