Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has highlighted progress in Kenya’s agricultural sector, saying the Government has placed farming at the centre of the country’s economic transformation.
Speaking on Wednesday during the official opening of the Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit at Jamhuri Park ASK Showground in Nairobi, Kindiki said the Government had expanded the national farmer register from 300,000 to 7.2 million crop farmers and three million livestock keepers.
He said subsidies had reduced the price of a 50-kilogramme bag of fertiliser from KSh7,000 to KSh2,000, while certified maize seed prices had fallen by half to KSh150 per kilogramme.
The Deputy President said 8.9 million cattle had been vaccinated under an ongoing programme targeting 22 million cattle and 50 million small livestock.
He also reported growth in the dairy and meat sectors, with milk production rising from 4.6 billion to 5.2 billion litres. The value of dairy products increased from KSh4.9 billion to KSh8.9 billion, while meat exports rose from KSh8.9 billion to KSh12.9 billion.
Kindiki said 17 County Aggregation and Industrial Parks had been completed and were being equipped to support agro-processing and value addition.
He added that investments in fisheries had helped increase the value of the blue economy from KSh37 billion to KSh59 billion, while technology, research and innovation were increasingly supporting smart and precision farming.
The Deputy President said farmers remained central to efforts to strengthen food security and make Kenya more self-sufficient.
