The New Masai Red Sheep Presidium is Launched

Slow Food and IFAD working with indigenous youth to defend and promote their food heritage.

Slow Food and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) are working together to strengthen indigenous communities, particularly young people, protecting and promoting their food heritage and supporting the sustainability and resilience of their practices. Thanks to the three-year project Empowering Indigenous Youth and Their Communities to Defend And Promote Their Food Heritage, 300 indigenous young people and more than 500 indigenous producers from Slow Food Presidia, Indigenous Terra Madre and IFAD networks will be involved.

The main countries involved are Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Kenya. Five existing indigenous Presidia will be strengthened and five new Presidia will be created. Of these ten Presidia, two will be selected to create a system to improve and increase the marketing of indigenous peoples’ products, while exploring new ways of labelling or participatory guarantee schemes.

In East Africa, the new Masai Red Sheep Presidium aims to protect and safeguard this indigenous breed, which is resilient to diseases and the consequences of climate change. Also known as Tanganyika, the Masai red sheep is traditionally raised by the Masai community. It can be found in southern Kenya, northern Tanzania, and parts of Uganda along the Great Rift Valley. For some time now, Masai land has been torn from shepherds and sold to other groups or private investors, reducing pasture land and forcing the indigenous community to move with violence. In addition, there is a flight of young people to cities due to recurrent droughts as a result of climate change. Finally, since 1970, the country’s agricultural policy has promoted crossbreeding of Masai red sheep with Dorper and other imported sheep, making pure-bred animals increasingly rare today.

“Preserving Red Maasai Sheep is one most important way the indigenous Maasai communities can live sustainably with nature, while preserving their culture and heritage” says Margaret Tunda Lepore, producers’ coordinator. And she adds: “Since this indigenous breed is resistant to tough climate conditions which face my community every year why not promote and embrace our own!”

The Presidium aims to strengthen the Masai community, with particular attention to women and young people, through training activities, technical assistance, exchange of experiences, creation of market outlets and its involvement in the national and international activities of the Indigenous Terra Madre network.

The Masai Red Sheep, reared in the wild, is an important food for the food security of indigenous communities. It is characterized by a fat tail, thick hair and red color, but you can find heads brown or with a mottled mantle. Large in size, it is capable of surviving several local pests and long periods of drought. The Masai breeders are about fifty, members of the communities of Rosarian (Nakuru County) and Ol’Keri (Narok County). The sheep are slaughtered when they reach the twelfth month, the meat can be roasted or boiled and is consumed throughout the year, especially at ceremonies, such as weddings and initiations. According to a traditional belief, the god of rain has entrusted the red sheep to the Masai.

For further informations, please contact:

Presidium Coordinator

John Kariuki Mwangi

Tel: +254 712843776 – [email protected]

Producers Coordinator

Margaret Tunda Lepore

Tel. +254 701 569335 – [email protected]

Slow Food International Press Office

[email protected] – Twitter: @SlowFoodPress

Slow Food is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. Slow Food involves over a million activists, chefs, experts, youth, farmers, fishers and academics in over 160 countries.