To lift people out of poverty and ensure food security, a sustained effort is needed to develop Kenya’s agriculture and the associated infrastructure—notably roads, telecommunications, and energy—required to unleash agricultural potential.
Strengthening agriculture is one of the best investments Kenya can make.
A vibrant rural sector generates local demand for locally produced goods and services. This can spur sustainable non-farm employment growth in services, agro-processing, and small-scale manufacturing.
This is crucial for rural employment, without which poor rural young people will be driven away from their communities in search of work in the cities.
The reasons behind Kenya’s reliance on rain-fed agriculture are varied and complex. Alternative farming technologies are rarely adopted because farmers need access to credit inputs and markets.
Water is another limiting factor. Only farmers with access to water and efficient water management technologies can effectively practice crop diversification.
Despite the potential of rainwater harvesting to empower local communities and enhance their development capacities, several hindrances exist.
The SFCCD report indicates that these include a need for more awareness. This institutional framework provides for non-existent or poor policies at national and local levels, information gaps, low investment in research and development, and a lack of private sector participation.
With rainwater harvesting, farmers can regain control over when and how to use water effectively to enhance food production.
The utilization of the harvested water is integrated with other complementary technologies (drip irrigation), improved sanitation, livelihood activities, environmental conservation, and training to ensure a sustainable rainwater harvesting system.
On the other hand, will Kenya always rely on non-governmental organizations, development partners, and donors to develop model projects that will help the nation understand the role of small-scale farmers in feeding the nation?
We have successful examples, notably the Millennium Villages in Bar Sauri, an MV in Western Kenya, supported by the Millennium Promise, the UN Development Programme, and the Earth Institute. Columbia University has registered an array of successes since its inception in 2005.
Examples of achievements to attain food security are as follows: The people of Sauri have worked with experts to diversify the crops currently produced so that they can have more comprehensive access.
Farmers who experience an increased income level can branch out into the unexplored territory of income-generating activities, such as growing high-value crops such as onions, tomatoes, kale, herbs, and fruit, as introduced through the village program. Sauri looks back on five years of success.
Some years ago, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the Clinton Global Initiative Closing Plenary: “Food security is not just about food, it is all about security—economic security, environmental security, even national security.”
“If we can build partnerships with countries to help small farmers improve their agricultural output and make it easier to buy and sell their products at local or regional markets, we can set off a domino effect,” Clinton explained.
“We can increase the world’s food supply for both the short and long term, diminish hunger, raise farmers’ incomes, improve health, expand opportunity, and strengthen regional economies.”
While delivering his budget statement as Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta disclosed that the effects of climate change on agriculture adversely affected the attainment of food security.
What about the solutions? He proposed the elimination of tax tariffs to cushion vulnerable groups.
Allocating funds to encourage urban farming, having more funds earmarked for long-term measures like water harvesting and storage, and increasing acreage under irrigation will positively affect the lives of many households.
The focus should be on improving cooperation between the public, private, and voluntary sectors, developing strategies to identify strengths and weaknesses, and fostering a knowledge-based economy.
Fostering opportunities for new businesses in emerging sectors; creating conditions that will help small innovative firms grow; revitalizing the local economy, including considering the role of economic diversification; building community capacity; enhancing knowledge resources and institutional, human, and social resources; shifting to the knowledge economy; and, maximizing the benefits of the stimulus packages while reducing the downside risks.
Rural communities’ access to timely information can increase agricultural productivity and enhance social and economic development. Many rural farmers need more basic access to information.
Farmers’ knowledge and perspectives must be combined with those of decision-makers at other levels.
According to a policy brief from the International Research Institute (IRI) Climate and Society No. 1, research in agriculture, food security, and climate change must continue improving and delivering to allow more confident decision-making and allocating limited resources towards uncertain climatic futures.
The brief further states that incorporating climate information into development decisions allows the risks associated with climate to be better managed and reduces vulnerability among people with low incomes.
