Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has revealed that the Government has registered 7.2 million crop farmers and 3 million livestock keepers as part of its efforts to transform Kenya’s agriculture sector.
Kindiki said the farmer database had grown from only 300,000 farmers four years ago when the Government began implementing its agricultural transformation agenda.
He spoke on Wednesday, October 7, while opening the Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit at the Jamhuri Park ASK Showground in Nairobi.
Kindiki said the Government had also reduced the cost of key farm inputs through subsidies, with the price of a 50-kilogramme bag of fertiliser falling from Sh7,000 to Sh2,000.
The price of certified maize seed has also dropped by half, from Sh300 to Sh150 per kilogramme, while sexed semen used in artificial insemination of dairy cows has fallen from Sh8,000 to Sh1,400 per dose.
The Deputy President said the interventions had been accompanied by increased production across several agricultural value chains.
He said milk production had risen from 4.6 billion litres to 5.2 billion litres, while the value of dairy product exports increased from Sh4.9 billion to Sh8.9 billion.
Meat exports, he added, had also increased from Sh8.9 billion to Sh12.9 billion, making Kenya the leading exporter of processed milk in Africa.
On livestock health, Kindiki said 8.9 million cattle had so far been vaccinated under an ongoing national programme targeting 22 million cattle and 50 million small livestock.
He said the Government was also investing in value addition through County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, with 17 parks completed and undergoing equipping ahead of the start of operations.
Kindiki further cited increased earnings from coffee, tea, milk, macadamia, pulses and avocado among the gains recorded under the agricultural transformation programme.
The fisheries sector has also recorded growth, with its value rising from Sh37 billion to Sh59 billion, according to the Deputy President.
He attributed the growth to investments in fishing ports, landing sites, boats, grants to beach management units, fish cages and fingerling production facilities.
Kindiki said the Government was now turning to technology, research and innovation to improve productivity and prepare Kenyan agriculture for the future.
“Technology is now being applied to promote smart agriculture and precision farming into the future,” he said.
He said research had also resulted in new crop varieties, improved animal breeds and better farming technologies.
The three-day Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit brings together national and county governments, farmers, researchers, private-sector players and other stakeholders to review progress and chart the next phase of agricultural transformation.
The summit, running from October 7 to 9, is focused on food sovereignty, job creation, farmer incomes and value addition under the Government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
