County governments have made tremendous strides in enhancing food security through the adoption of modern technologies, Council of Governors Chairperson Anne Waiguru says.
The Kirinyaga governor noted that the value of agriculture is more pronounced in rural areas, where it contributes up to 70 per cent of employment opportunities, with women making up 70 per cent of the labour force.
Ms Waiguru said the devolved units are helping women farmers to integrate innovative technologies in crop and livestock farming to boost food production and income.
The governor spoke on Monday at a side event of the United Nation’s 67th Session of the Commission on Status of Women in New York.
She noted that, through agricultural extension officers, counties are training farmers on best farming practices to improve production and on value addition so that their produce can fetch more and avoid loss and waste.
Ms Waiguru noted that county governments managed to reach 4,523,889 farmers with extension services within the year while pointing out that low use of the services was one of the challenges facing the sector.
“Whereas county governments continue to expand outreach to farmers, rural women face barriers and constraints, including limited education and low household incomes,” she said.
Digital extension services
Counties are now exploring the use of digital extension services to overcome some of these gender-nuanced challenges. Ms Waiguru said that the counties' approach to developing the agriculture sector has been focused on using technological innovations to address critical constraints faced by farmers over the last 10 years of devolution.
The gradual integration of technology in agriculture is drawing women and young people to the sector, she observed. Counties are also helping women to leverage mobile phones and applications to find markets for their produce.
Towards accelerating food security, the CoG chairperson said counties have invested in agricultural machinery with the purchase of an additional 350 tractors operating in 29 agriculture mechanisation stations.
In the development and commercialisation of the livestock sector, she said counties have procured 10,782,369 doses of various vaccines for animals, conducted 369,788 subsidised artificial insemination services, procured 449,673 straws of semen, distributed 4,376 cattle, goat and sheep breeding stock and installed 68 milk coolers.
“The county governments have also introduced commercial poultry farming by supporting farmers with 1,608,108 improved chicks and distributed close to three million fingerings to support farmers to farm fish,” she added.
All these activities, she said, are helping farmers increase food production, tackle post-harvest losses and add value to their products.
Ms Waiguru noted that agriculture accounts for 22.4 per cent of nominal GDP in Kenya, making it a key employer that absorbed over 1.6 million additional workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing its share from 47 to 54 per cent.
In the 2021/2022 financial year, the CoG chair said county governments allocated Sh35.5 billion of their budgets to the agriculture sector development and in the wake of climate change and high demand for fruits in the global market, they distributed 643,686 assorted fruit seedlings.
“In appreciation of the importance of potatoes as a source of food, income and employment, counties distributed 45 tonnes of potato vines. This is expected to go a long way in improving farmers’ incomes and increasing foreign exchange,” said the governor.
She revealed that counties also distributed 66,718 50kg bags of subsidised fertiliser, 507,786 avocado seedlings, 401,000 coffee seedlings, 38,000 coconut seedlings, 46,400 tissue culture bananas and 2,090 irrigation kits.
