Government, Private-Sector Call for Urgent Action to Ensure Kenyan Food Security

By Eric Akasa.

 Kenya’s ongoing challenges with drought, crop disease and spiking food prices demonstrate the need for new solutions to ensure food security. The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in partnership with the Agriculture Sector Coordination Unit (ASCU) and the Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat (VDS) today hosted the Kenya Agricultural Transformation Forum to bring together government, private sector and agricultural research experts, to map out strategies for developing practical solutions to fuel Kenya’s agricultural and nutritional future.

The Forum discussed the need for agricultural innovation, food pricing agricultural financing and links to nutrition.  These issues are critically important given that agriculture accounts for 65 percent of Kenya’s total exports and provides more than 70 percent of informal employment in rural areas according to Kenya’s Agricultural Sector Development Strategy.

Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose Forum address was delivered by the Hon. Minister Dalmas Otieno, provided powerful context for the need to focus on agriculture.

“The Kenya Government is deeply committed to investing in this sector, because we can see the potential it carries for attaining our food security objectives as well as increasing rural incomes. This commitment is evident in that we have positioned agriculture as one of the six sectors expected to generate the bulk of Vision 2030.” Read Hon Otieno.

Kenya is currently implementing the Agriculture Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) which envisages a food secure and prosperous nation by 2020. Two pillars of that strategy are to reduce the number of food insecure people by 30 percent, and to reduce the numbers of people living below the poverty line to less than 25 percent.

Kenya must also strive to involve youth in the agricultural sector. “We have to make agriculture interesting for them, because they will not be motivated if they have to use jembes, and if the sector is not highly productive.”

 “Agriculture is the engine of our nation’s economy; yet far too many Kenyans struggle to ensure their fields prosper and their families are fed.  There is far too much promise in our country’s agricultural sector for us to fall short of our economic potential. ” Says Mugo Kibati at the Forum on behalf of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

The meeting was designed to strengthen the strategy framework for enhanced research innovation and small-holder farmer supports that will help Africa achieve its rightful place as a global leader in achieving sustainable food security.

AGRA President Jane Karuku said, “We need to deepen alliances and invest in innovation that will help women and men on front lines of Kenya’s agricultural workforce. Given the proper support, the smallholder farmers can feed the future of the country and the continent.”

 The Forum follows global meetings focused on food security and nutrition – WEF Africa, the G8 Summit and UK Hunger Summit – laying important groundwork for the upcoming African Green Revolution Forum which will sets the stage for African ownership in the next phase of scaling agricultural development solutions and steering investment to build a sustainable food secure future. The Forum also lends momentum in the lead up to the National Agriculture Sector Development Forum and the Vision 2030 Medium-Term Plan.