Although less than eight per cent of land in Kenya is under cultivation, agriculture remains the country’s most important economic activity. Only about 20 percent of Kenya’s land is suitable for farming, of which just 12 percent is classified as high potential (adequate rainfall) agricultural land and eight percent as having medium potential.
The rest of the land is arid or semiarid. About 80 percent of the country’s work force is in agriculture or related value addition sectors. Farming in Kenya is mainly by small producers who cultivate an average of two hectares (about five acres) using limited technology.
These small farms, operated by about three million families, account for 75 percent of food and cash crops produced annually. These are the people the government is targeting to make Kenya food secure. They need financial and information support to farm on a commercial basis. No country has ever industrialised without growing its agriculture. It is an all-encompassing sector that powers the Kenyan economy, affecting food security, rural economies, political stability, basic nutrition and job creation.
Kenya’s farmers should not be viewed as poor, with little chance of moving into a middle class lifestyle. Opportunities abound to transform their fortunes with the right support. The first step towards this transformation is modernising agriculture at the farm level. Connecting agriculture to other sectors in the economy should follow. Inputs need to be closely linked to processing, logistics, marketing, re-branding and retailing, among others.
Through these connections, millions of jobs will be created for entrepreneurs. Take the story of the Nyeri coffee farmer covered in the Technology chapter. Dr Thuo Mathenge processes his own coffee and sells directly to the market. He has had to invest a lot in the agribusiness, but in the long run, it is much more enriching. The government must facilitate more Kenyans to add value to produce. Modernising agriculture means getting the masses to benefit from agro-processing and other value additions for their produce. Efficient agricultural production means a lower cost of food, which in some households, can be as high as 70 percent of the budgets. Increasing productivity and lowering the cost of food, therefore, means households will spend less on food, which releases funds for other essentials High productivity of cheap raw agricultural material can support the agro-processing industry.
Producing more goods locally means more jobs and revenue for the government, which also leads to a higher demand for goods and services other than food. Mechanisation should play a big role in this supported by good business models. How does a poor farmer access mechanised services? Medium scale farmers who own tractors can be encouraged to support fellow farmers. Farmers’ organisations can also buy tractors and hire them out to their members. Local fabricators can also be encouraged to make simple farm equipment, like two-wheel tractors for smallholder farmers.
Mechanisation should play a big role in this. And this does not limit itself to tractors, it also involves a business model. How does a poor farmer gain access to mechanisation services? Medium scale farmers who own tractors can be encouraged to provide mechanisation services to fellow farmers
This is exactly what Peter Kahiu of Laikipia, whose story is also in the technology chapter, has done. The state should encourage and support innovators like him to spread this homegrown technology across the country. These services are available in Kenya. What is mostly lacking is the information on where or how farmers can access them. This publication seeks to provide the answers. After mechanisation, farmers have to commercialise their agriculture. Subsistence farming is a big handicap. Consuming what one has produced and only selling the surplus means farmers only focus on what they like eating, not what is in demand in the market. The solution is to make the food market work by assuring the subsistence farmer that he can grow a cash crop and still buy food at an affordable price in the market.
In the food security item of the Big Four Agenda, the government hopes to double maize production from the current 38 million bags to 74 million in five years. Rice, the other staple, has an almost similar target. For Kenya to achieve this, commercial agriculture is the key. We have had challenges with high cost of production, inability of farmers to access markets and high post-harvest losses. These challenges must be addressed if the ambitious food production targets are to be achieved. Kenya still has a long way to go to achieve this. The cereals market has suffered through unregulated imports and inadequate cash allocations to the in the budget.
This has had the effect of demotivating farmers, hence production decline. The drive towards commercialisation requires enhanced availability of information, use of the existing production technologies and money. In 2017, Kenya allocated Sh20.25 billion to agriculture, or about 3.5 pc of the budget, which is less than the minimum 10 percent pledged at the Maputo protocol. The low allocation of means that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is unable to intervene in the market in any significant way, to stabilize prices. But Kenya also has to address the corruption that affects this sector. This year, for example, it allowed brokers to import and supply maize to NCPB who were then paid all the money meant for genuine farmers. Even the fertilizer subsidy programme whose initial aim was to moderate fertilizer prices and help small holder resource poor farmers, has been abused, and is only benefiting large scale farmers.
This has watered down the programme, and fertilizer costs remain high. Pricing of food crops has also been a problem affecting production, given the high cost of inputs. Take maize for example. The average cost of production for a 90kg bag in Kenya is between Sh1,950 and Sh2,300. Yet this is the same range in which a bag of maize is selling in the market. The low margins and inability of farmers to access the NCPB market hampers production. In 2017, Kenya imported about 10 million bags of maize, 620,000 metric tonnes of rice, and 1.8 million metric tonnes of wheat. Although the imports play an important role in stabilizing prices, they should be well managed to avoid hurting local farmers. Losses after harvest are another major challenge. Last year, Kenyan farmers incurred a total of Sh32 million in post-harvest losses and the armyworm infestation, according to research by Egerton University’s Tegemeo Institute.
We have had challenges with high cost of production, inability of farmers to access markets and high post-harvest losses. These challenges must be addressed if the ambitious food production targets are to be achieved
Many of the stories in this publication identify the exact point of losses and the most appropriate innovations and technology to address them. The other method for Kenya to increase food production is through irrigation. Irrigation can increase production by about 100-400 percent. The cost of production under irrigation is about Sh1,600. Irrigated maize production is profitable, assuming the market and government prices of Sh2,200 and Sh3,200 respectively. But to succeed, mega irrigation projects need the right public-private partnerships, creating complementary incentives, agreeing to the terms and conditions, as well as laying down clear responsibilities defining a PPP joint initiative and linkages.
Where the government implements the projects alone, accountability has always been problematic. An example is the Galana Kulalu food security project. This is a 500,000-acre irrigation maize project, yet the acreage under irrigation is hardly 2,500 acres. Maize productivity in early 2018 fell within what Tegemeo predicted of 22 bags per acre, which is profitable. If Kenya tackles these problems, there is no reason why it cannot produce enough food for her citizens and for export. The Big Four Agenda is a recognition of this. We hope that the information contained in this publication helps all the stakeholders in the fight to achieve this noble goal.