Food is one of the key agendas ingrained in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda.
How comes we are loosing it in food production yet Agriculture was once the backbone of our economy?
The Agriculture ministry has raised the red flag over the decline in food production, forcing the country to import nearly all-basic food to meet rising demands.
According to the Ministry, the sector productivity has declined from 5.4 per cent in 2013 to 1.6 per cent in 2017. The decline has been attributed to drought, inadequate farming land, low and declining soil fertility, high prices of fertiliser and pesticides and emergence of new pests.
State Department of Agriculture Research senior official Margaret Makelo (pictured) revealed that among the products that are being imported include wheat, maize, rice, beans, potatoes and sugar. “The emerging challenges have led to high cost of production and this has been worsened by high level of poverty leading to low purchasing power,” she said.
She also said the crisis in the sector has been worsened by rural-urban migration with youths moving to towns in search of employment opportunities.
“As a result of the mass migration, farming has been left to the elderly and retirees,” she said.
Makelo spoke at Kalro offices in Naivasha during a workshop on Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (Simlesa). On the project, Makelo said Kalro has partnered with other stakeholders where more than 1.3 million farmers were expected to benefit.
“Simlesa research has been able to demonstrate evidence based policy lessons and scaling approaches that can reverse food and nutrition insecurities across the continent,” she said.
Karlo director general Eliud Kireger said attainment of food and nutrition goals remains a challenge because of vagaries of weather.