For years, the people of Isiolo have lived with a dream that always seemed just beyond reach. In a county where livestock is not just an economic pillar but a way of life, the promise of a modern export abattoirAMP has lingered since 2007, caught in a cycle of grand announcements, funding shortfalls, and dashed expectations.
This week, that dream edged closer to reality. A high-level delegation from the World Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture travelled to Isiolo to review the progress of the facility. They were received by Deputy Governor Dr James Lowasa and County Executive for Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock and Fisheries Yusuf Mohamed, who were joined by Chief Officers Godana DidaAMP and Isaiah Epuri.
The visitors walked through the cold metallic chambers, newly installed automated lines, and gleaming stainless steel structures that will one day process the animals so central to this region’s identity. This time, the atmosphere was different. Officials and community leaders spoke not of possibilities, but of readiness.
Deputy Governor Lowasa told the delegation that under Governor Abdi Ibrahim Hassan’s leadership, the project was no longer a dormant relic but a centrepiece of development planning. “The Governor is committed to operationalize the export abattoir,” he said, pointing to the county’s substantial investment to bring the facility up to global standards.
CEC Yusuf Mohamed explained that the county is exploring a new public-private partnership to manage the plant after earlier talks were disrupted by shifts in donor funding. He confirmed that a fresh Expression of Interest will soon be issued to attract investors who can help the abattoir thrive.
The delegation also included Priscilla Muiruri, National Coordinator for the Food Systems Resilience project, who expressed her satisfaction with the progress. “We have found that the abattoir is now ready and at an advanced stage,” she noted, a statement that underscored just how far the project has come since its uncertain beginnings.
For pastoralist families across Isiolo, the abattoir is more than infrastructure. It is the promise of dignity for a trade too often undervalued. Livestock here is currency, dowry, inheritance and survival. Yet many herders have long sold their animals at throwaway prices to middlemen, lacking direct access to international markets. A functioning export facility could finally change that equation, giving local producers a fairer share of the wealth their animals generate.
We encourage farmers to vaccinate their livestock to maximise the benefits of the vast export markets we have secured to increase their incomes.
Inspected the progress of the Isiolo Export Abattoir, a strategic livestock processing hub that will enhance market access for… pic.twitter.com/b7YcyFPf0V
Challenges remain. Final works, including a water purification system, landscaping, and feedlot upgrades, still await completion. But the sense of inevitability is stronger now than at any point in the past eighteen years.
Perhaps the most telling shift is not technical but emotional. For many Isiolo residents, the abattoir has been shorthand for unfulfilled promises. Today, it is becoming a symbol of what political will and persistence can deliver. Governor Hassan’s insistence on prioritising the project in the County Integrated Development Plan has brought the abattoir back to life.
As the dignitaries departed, there was a quiet sense of history being rewritten. The Isiolo Export Abattoir, once little more than a monument to stalled development, is on the verge of becoming a working gateway for pastoralists to reach global markets. For a community that has waited nearly two decades, hope is no longer a vague aspiration. It is a doorway swinging open.