Proper measures need to be employed to make agriculture lucrative.

 Agriculture remains to be the backbone of Kenya’s economy. It’s with no doubt that it employs close to 70 PC of the rural population, and 40 PC of Kenya’s total population according to KNBS. From the small and large scale farmers, the casual laborers in the farms, agronomists, the transporters of the farm commodities to market places and factories, the farm commodity vendors, to the employees in the processing factories, agriculture plays a huge role in the economic development of Kenya.

However, much needs to be done.

Taking oath in his second term of administration. President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled a big four-plan agenda. Among issues that President Kenyatta said he would prioritize, include affordable health care for all, Affordable Housing, Manufacturing, and Food Security.

However, much seems not to have happened. Food security in Kenya remains to be a pipe dream.

Kenya has arable land that needs to be put under cultivation which can help in solving both the food shortage and as a result the unemployment crisis. As of 2018, only 10% of Kenyan land had been put under crop cultivation according to a Knoema website search results. This leaves behind close to 7 % of Kenyan fertile soil underutilized. 

Nonetheless, out of the 10% of arable land put under cultivation, most farmers rely on rain to plant crops. It’s when the rains set in March farmers from the Rift rush to agrochemical stores to purchase maize seeds for planting. It’s at this time that milk production in Central Kenya increases sharply. After a while, farmers start lamenting poor market prices due to the bumper harvest of farm commodities. Some farm produce gets wasted. You pass by in market places and see heaps of dumped tomato, kales, and cabbage.

It’s this over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture that makes agriculture look like an art. The surface runoff from the rain ends up collecting in streams, rivers, lakes, and the Indian ocean. Water that should be stored for irrigation and other domestic consumption ends up “wasted.” In fact, due to poor management of the rain waters, they end up sweeping villages, livestock, and crops.  

Months after the rainy season is over, food shortage cripples in. Prices of food commodities hike. In a country that ought to be food secure and export to foreign countries, food donations. The situation gets dire to a point that the national government orders maize import from foreign countries. 

Do Kenyans need to suffer from malnutrition due to food shortageshortagesneed to dig deep into our pockets to buy that one “Nyonya” at Ksh 10 bob each, that cabbage at Ksh 30 bob each? Recent research by the FAO titled Africa regional overview of food security and nutrition indicated that most of the population in African countries are not able to put at the table nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, and animal proteins due to high costs- Kenya included. 

Can Kenya borrow a leaf from developed countries that practice agriculture? For instance, take a case example of Israel. It is one of those countries in the middle east that is located in an arid land. This country receives very little rainfall per annum. That notwithstanding, Israel can feed its population and export the rest.