State banks on youth agripreneurs to boost food production

JOSEPH NG’ANG’A-KNA 

The Ministry of Agriculture, in liaison with the county governments, has initiated an agri-preneur model where the youth, using digital technology, have been onboarded to provide extension services to farmers at the ward level. 

Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) Dr. Andrew Karanja stated that the government is continually relying on technology and digitization to bridge gaps in the delivery of services to farmers. 

Dr. Karanja emphasized that for Kenya to increase agricultural production and reduce the annual food importation bill of Sh500 billion, it is essential for all extension service providers to collaborate and devise strategies to reach agricultural producers with the latest production technologies, especially through digital platforms. 

“Under the Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System (KIAMIS), we are planning to launch an extension module to leverage digital platforms for enhancing access to extension services,” the CS explained.

Speaking during the Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services - Kenya (KeFAAS) Second National Agricultural Extension Symposium, Dr Karanja said through KIAMIS, they have a database of 6.45 million farmers who can be targeted with a number of services including provision of input subsidies, agricultural market information, crop and livestock advisories among other services. 

“To create an enabling environment, the Ministry has developed the Kenya Agricultural Sector Extension Policy (KASEP) and the Extension Guidelines and Standards to guide extension service providers with an aim of fostering coordination,” Dr Karanja said. 

The CS highlighted the ministry has resumed the public-private dialogues to continue working together to unlock the many challenges faced by farmers and stakeholders in accessing vital agricultural information and services geared towards enhancing productivity, market access as well as ways of mitigating effects of climate change. 

“The linkages between the research, academia, extension and private sectors need to be strengthened so that we can contextualize the technologies, innovations, and management practices (TIMPS) promotion and enhanced adoption,” the CS said. 

Dr Karanja said the ministry is also streamlining resource utilization, explaining that it has around Sh150 billion worth of donor-funded programmes within the ministry and its agencies and it is critical that the funds are used efficiently to avoid duplication of roles and wastage. 

“Through the Intergovernmental Co-ordination Framework, we are in talks with county governments so that they can increase budgetary allocation for agriculture to stimulate economic growth.

Most of our counties are agricultural and we cannot expect them to grow without necessary budgetary investment. Without agriculture development we lose on foreign exchange as a result of importing more than we export,” Dr Karanja said. 

He explained that the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security proposed a 10 per cent budget allocation towards agriculture development but in Kenya the allocation by both the national and county governments is at an average of between four to five per cent. 

“We are working with other stakeholders like the Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services - Kenya (KeFAAS) and look at similar activities that they have in offering extension services. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we will take up what has been working and incorporate it into our policy guidelines,” Dr Karanja said. 

KeFAAS CEO Peter Gitika said that this year’s Second Agricultural Extension Symposium theme: “Delivering pluralist extension to the last mile for an improved agri-food system” is geared towards bringing all stakeholders together to deliberate on ways to incorporate technology into extension services. 

“We have recognized the need for employing digital technology in offering extension to farmers. In Murang’a County we have trained seven digital connectors using the agri-preneur model,” Gitika said. 

He explained that the digital connectors have degrees in agriculture and were taken through a oneyear training to give them a mind-set of an agripreneur and have supported them to setup small enterprises where they are offering extension services and earning a living. 

Gitika explained that from three years of monitoring and evaluating the extension services, statistics indicate that the farmers have increased their incomes by 30 per cent. 

“We are also working with counties in efforts to help them build the capacity of co-operative societies to come up with policies particularly on governance, human resource management and institutionalizing some of these activities within their frameworks,” Gitika said.