A Small Corner Of Kenya Shows How Africa Can Feed Itself

By Limo Taboi

At least  3.5 million Kenyans face drought-induced hunger. A drought emergency has been declared, and between 80 percent and 90 percent of reservoirs and dams have dried up in Turkana, in the northwest of the country. The disruption from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent the prices of imported wheat grains soaring.

Maize prices have also reached record highs. This led to a recent decision by the government to import maize from outside of the East African Community bloc for the first time since 2017.

Yet, Kenya has not lost the food fight, thanks to its farmers, new innovations from the private and non-government sectors, sustainable management systems that are being exported to other East African nations, and agricultural interventions that are bearing fruit.

The journey to these highs, is critical, though not always glamorous. Farmers and their families are the worker bees who feed nations. Their individual stories rarely get told.

East Africa has seen the rise of creative urban farmers, more so since Covid-19 struck, when they discovered that they could grow vegetables in their homes’ backyards, to feed their families. If they choose to sell any surplus, they will set their prices and sell to whomever they want, preferably to their friends, neighbors, or at organic markets.

Rural farmers, who are the majority and in their millions, they have fewer choices.  They sell their surplus at markets and to buyers at extremely fluctuating, and many times low prices,  that they do not set. They have little, if any, power in the food economy of nations.

Fixing the gaps

Historically, the most important investment and investments in agriculture were by the government. Farmers used to have government-employed extension workers, who visited farms and provided services and knowledge. In Kenya, as in many parts of Africa, they were de-prioritized in the structural adjustment programs of the late 1980s and 1990s.

Political changes have also impacted food and farmers. In Kenya, the country underwent a transition to a dual government structure, and agriculture was devolved from the national to county government after 2013 under the new 2010 constitutional framework. Counties got responsibilities and staff but found they had much smaller budgets than before in the pre-devolution era to implement agricultural programs.

The counties aren’t without any tools, though. They have subsidized farm input; one cow per family project; and fertilizer support. They also still partner with the national government, as well as the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), that gradually stepped in to fill gaps in extending services to rural or grassroots farmers and close funding needs.

In a climate change-challenged era, one of many initiatives that point to where a sustainable farming future lies is the Sustainable Land and Forest Management program in western Kenya. Run the government’s Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), with funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) for the last five years, it is a partnership with the UN’s Environmental Programme (UNEP) and others, in a consortium of a dozen partner organizations. Today, these food security coalitions are striking for how wide they are.

The project revolves around interventions to stop the degradation of a vast forest that stretches through three counties of Kakamega, Vihiga, and Nandi with other neighbors who call it different names.

The innovators