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Financial Inclusion, Value Chain Innovation Critical to Agricultural Productivity in Kenya

BY David Indeje · May 28, 2016 06:05 am

Western Kenya region residents depend on agriculture for their livelihood, yet sector inefficiency is widespread across the region and the rest of the country.

Farmers cannot access reliable markets, buyers cannot access reliable markets, source adequate quantities of produce and intermediaries cannot cost- effectively provide services.

 

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Maize and sugarcane are the most important crops in Western Kenya region with maize as the main food crop. However, farmers are unable to increase their productivity unless the problems of plant diseases, reducing soil fertility and increasing soil acidity are overcome.

 

The end result is supply chain disorganization that depresses household income, increased food insecurity and hinders business development.

 Read:

Decline in Maize Production Hurting the Economy

Performance of Agricultural Sector Improved in 2015

Alternative farming technology is rarely adopted because farmers lack adequate access to credit inputs and markets. Water is a limiting factor. Only farmers with access to water and efficient water management technologies can effectively practice crop diversification.

 

Several hindrances include: lack of awareness, lack of institutional framework in terms of non-existent or poor policies at national and local levels, information gaps, low investment in research and development and lack of private sector participation.

 

Over 95 percent of smallholder farms in Kenya show severe depletion of essential soil nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Moreover, Kenya’s agricultural soils have dangerously low soil organic matter and exhibit worrying trends of acidification. This is according to a report by the National Accelerated Agricultural Input Access Programme (NAAIAP) released February 18, 2014.

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Professor Calestous Juma of the Harvard, Kennedy School interested in innovation for development in The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa, says about 30 per cent of all African labour potential is used in subsistence agriculture.