Kenya Votes 2007 : News and Information on the Kenya Election

CHAPTER ELEVEN

INCREASING VALUE IN AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND LIVESTOCK

The Challenges:

Agriculture is a key sector in the country’s economy, contributing about 25% the Gross Domestic Product. It is estimated that 75% of the national labour force is engaged in agriculture and its related activities. This number includes over half of the rural population, with a majority of them being women and other vulnerable groups like pastoralists, the landless, subsistence farmers and fisher-folk who rely on these sectors for their livelihoods.

Kenya’s agriculture is predominantly rain-fed with only 2% of cropland being irrigated. This has led to great variations in crop production from year to year due to varying rainfall patterns. As a result, severe shortages of food (through crop failure) resulting in hunger, starvation and death in some parts of the country have become the order of the day. Food insecurity has been aggravated by poverty, poor infrastructure and marketing systems.

Limited diversification and value addition of agricultural production has led to low revenue and high vulnerability of incomes of pastoralists and fisher-folk. Only a few commodities (coffee, tea, dairy, maize, wheat, beef, fish and horticulture) provide livelihood for over 85% of the rural population while coffee and tea alone provide 45% of the wage employment in the sector.

Women and the youth play a significant role in small-scale agriculture as they provide 75% of the labour force and manage 40% of the farms. Limited access to inputs, machinery, finances and markets due to a host of other factors limit their productivity and capacity for development.

The livestock sector, despite contributing over 10% of the GDP and about 30% of all marketed agricultural output, has not enjoyed much development assistance. Over 60% of livestock is found in the arid and semi arid (ASAL) areas where it employs 90% of the local population.

The fisheries sector continues to be neglected, despite employing over half a million Kenyans and contributing about Kshs 6 billion to the economy in 2005.

The transformation of agriculture, livestock and fisheries is essential in providing adequate food for all, assuring people decent incomes, enhancing equality, and providing productive employment for the majority of Kenyans in the medium term as the country strives to industrialise and create more non-agricultural jobs.

The thrust of policy in these sectors must move away from revitalization to transformation. It must move away from the current patterns of resource allocation – away from so called ‘high potential’ areas to marginalised areas and directed specifically to groups, such as women, pastoralists, youth and the landless people.

Policy transformation will enable us to rapidly diversify and deal with issues of equity and increasing rural incomes and standards of living to eradicate poverty. It is important that as the production of our traditional export crops (such as coffee, tea and horticulture) and dairy produce is expanded, emphasis is placed on new products in new areas.

The challenges facing this sector are many and varied. These challenges include: declining farm sizes and backward land tenure; expensive inputs; drudgery (backbreaking production) due to low mechanization; lack of extension services for both livestock and crops; lack of agricultural credit and insurance; inadequate value addition (processing, preservation and marketing of crops, livestock and fish); poor transport network, hence, inability to move produce to market in good time; and lack of marketing systems and institutions, hence, the bulk of profits are made by middlemen and final sellers, with farmers hardly meeting their cost and unfavourable terms of trade, especially in the horticultural production sub-sector.

The co-operative societies in this sector play a valuable role but have been constrained by poor governance and lack of transparency in the management. They also lack capacity in management, market intelligence and market research.

Our Commitments:

We will increase productivity and diversify by continuing to invest in agriculture, livestock and fisheries, thus, transforming rural livelihood.

We will increase our yields in the agriculture sector through progressive land reform and infrastructure development by the provision of water for domestic use and irrigation.

We shall also promote the application of modern technology, extensive mechanization, rain water harvesting, and flood control, and stimulate and support the development of agro-industries and businesses.

We will improve and enhance institutions that provide extension services, affordable credit, research and marketing in an equitable manner.

We will endeavour to provide preservation, storage and processing facilities locally for crops, livestock and fish to minimize post-production losses.

We will improve access to markets and fair prices for farmers, herdsmen and fishermen.

We will review the costs of production of cereals, sugar, beef and dairy products which are considered high in comparison with imports from the region with an aim of reducing production costs and increasing incomes for farmers.

We will develop people-centred policies that promote the achievement of all our objectives in the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sector.

We will improve the infrastructure – especially roads and power-supply – along the beaches to improve marketing of fishery products and improve fishing communities’ bargaining power.

We will encourage the co-operatives as they are vital to economic recovery and transformation of these sectors.

Your ODM Government will:

• Devolve decision making on funding, research prioritization, agro-processing and value addition.

• Develop appropriate and consistent policy and a legal and institutional framework in the agricultural, livestock and fisheries sectors and enable adequate capacity for enforcement.

• Preach integrity in the management of public resources.

• Invest in modern science and technology-led intensive and extensive irrigated agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and forestry.

• Facilitate timely access to quality and affordable seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other farm and animal inputs.

• Ensure there is a well trained and equipped extension officer in every location in the country.

• Develop modern rural access roads to facilitate access to markets.

• Provide electricity, water and telecommunications to facilitate rural industrialisation and improve the quality of life in rural areas.

• Formulate and implement a responsive land tenure system.

• Promote the application of biotechnology in increasing production of food, feed, fibre and other products.

• Develop improved high yielding and disease resistant livestock varieties among the pastoralist communities, small scale dairy farmers, and peasants owning traditional livestock.

• Implement a livestock insurance scheme.

• Promote aquaculture for increased production of fish.

• Ensure that farmers, pastoralists and fishermen become more commercial and profitable.

• Strengthen institutional capacity of rural producers to improve their bargaining power in order to enhance their incomes.

• Facilitate investment in modern hygienic landing bays, storage and processing facilities, efficient transport and communications infrastructure on inland fishing areas, especially around Lake Victoria.

• Improve veterinary services to prevent and control diseases in animals.

• Access cheap veterinary medicines and assist farmers with their purchases and with meeting the high cost of breeding.

• Set up livestock processing industries in the ASALs.

• Build capacity of the co-operative movement and enforce compliance with the provisions of the revised Co-operative Societies Act.

• Streamline the management of the co-operative societies and improve their corporate governance.

• Introduce information and communications technology in co-operative management.

• Encourage investment in post-harvest processing and preservation technologies that will maximise returns to the rural producer while ensuring stable supply and affordable prices to the consumer.

• Facilitate fair international trade practices for our agricultural produce, fish, meat and flora.

• Facilitate investment in modern, hygienic landing bays, storage and processing facilities, efficient transport and communications infrastructure on inland fishing areas especially around Lake Victoria.