What the fart about livestock vaccination? An explainer on stinking Ruto, critics clash

Farting - a natural phenomenon, but one that is often carried out in secret, even when its 'results' speak volumes - has unexpectedly found its way into national public discourse, thanks to a planned livestock vaccination campaign.

The government aims to vaccinate approximately 22 million cattle and 50 million goats and sheep in a bid to combat trans-boundary diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease. 

Scheduled to begin in January 2025, the program is touted as a game-changer for Kenya’s livestock sector.

However, the issue of livestock flatulence, among other concerns, has sparked a heated war of words, leaving Kenyans questioning who is telling the truth. 

President William Ruto, in recent public remarks, criticized leaders opposing the vaccination initiative, calling them ignorant and accusing them of misleading the public.

In his argument, he said, disease prevalence in Kenya has significantly hindered the export of leather products, making the vaccination campaign critical to expanding international markets.
“We want to expand our international market,” he said.

Why then do we have all this farty-talk?

It starts with the basic science that was taught in primary school. Back then, we learnt that some animals like cows, goats, sheep, and giraffes –among others, have four stomach compartments. 

Such animals are called ruminants and the sectioned stomachs all have specific work to do. These jobs include storing the chewed food, absorbing nutrients and vitamins, breaking down proteins, and receiving heavy materials that cannot be crushed by an animal’s teeth.

One of the compartments, the rumen, is a source of methane gas which is one of the greenhouse gases that causes global warming. 

Once it is released into the environment, studies show that it traps more heat in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide.

One of the compartments –the rumen, is known for producing methane gas through a natural process that scientists call enteric fermentation. Inside the rumen, food that has not been digested fully is left to ferment. The animals regurgitate that food to completely break this down. This process is called chewing cud and when it happens, methane gas is released to the atmosphere. 

Most of the methane gas is released through the burps, and only a small negligible percentage is released through a cow’s rear end.

Why has the national vaccine roll-out been linked to the fart issue?

The vaccination program set to start in January 2025 had initially targeted all livestock enlisted by the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Livestock Development. 

However, there was backlash, which only escalated when the President endorsed the program bashing all the naysayers. The ministry in charge had mentioned that the vaccines will be manufactured locally by the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (KEVEVAPI). 

Kenyans on Twitter linked it to methane (now guised as fart) because studies have been in the pipeline to develop a vaccine that will reduce the ability of cows to produce methane gas that is harmful to our planet.

What is the state of the anti-methane vaccines?

While many Kenyans have only recently learned about the anti-methane vaccines, such studies have been in the pipeline for about two decades now. At the moment, two research groups - AgResearch from New Zealand and Arkea Bio from Boston, USA are actively studying the possible use of vaccines to reduce methane gas.

How will the vaccines work?

The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre, which is one of the leading organisations pushing for a methane vaccine, explains this phenomenon.

On their website, they say that while the trials they have had since 2004 have not yielded any fruit, they hope that a vaccine would produce high-level antibodies in the saliva of sheep, which is also a ruminant.

“These antibodies will bind onto the corresponding cell components (antigens) of methanogens (those with the methane gas) in the rumen fluid, and have an effect on those cells,” they explain. They say that most of the antigens are common to the different animals.

“Antibodies will bind onto these antigens across the full range of target methanogen species, within the rumen fluid,” they say.
This, they believe, will help in reducing how much methane will be released to the atmosphere.

Are these the vaccines targeted for livestock in Kenya?

To the best of our knowledge, the short answer is no. The government has said that the vaccines whose roll-out was recently made optional, will target diseases such as the Foot and Mouth for cattle and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) for sheep and goats.

A statement by the Kenya Veterinary Association also allayed such fears, saying that the government assured vets that control of greenhouse gases emissions from livestock is not really a priority for Kenya, saying most of our livestock, unlike abroad, are raised in organic systems.

“The methane reducing vaccine technology is still out of reach for most countries, including Kenya,” assured the Kenya Veterinary Association in a press statement.

What is the way forward?

In an interview with Citizen Television on Monday, Permanent Secretary Jonathan Mueke from the Ministry of Agriculture and 

Livestock Development said that the vaccination is not mandatory, but voluntary. He however said that only 10 per cent of the livestock in the country are receiving necessary vaccination, yet, the target is about 85 per cent in order to curb the spread of the targeted diseases. 

He said that ideally, the vaccination should be done twice a year and the immunity levels can be achieved if the exercise is done consistently for three years.

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