Government shifts focus from producing more food to making farming pay
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki.
Four years after placing agriculture at the centre of its economic transformation agenda, the Government says lower input costs, increased production and investment in value addition are beginning to reshape Kenya’s food system, with the next phase focusing on food sovereignty, jobs and higher farmer incomes.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said the Government is advancing from the goal of simply producing more food and is now seeking to change the economics of farming by lowering production costs, improving productivity, strengthening markets and retaining more value from agricultural commodities within the country.
Speaking on Wednesday, October 7, during the official opening of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Summit (AFSS) 2026 at Jamhuri Grounds in Nairobi, Prof Kindiki said agriculture remains central to the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) because it feeds the country, supports millions of households, supplies raw materials to industries, generates exports and foreign exchange and creates employment.
The three-day summit is being held under the theme, “Advancing Food Sovereignty, More and Better Jobs and Shared Prosperity.”
“When agriculture works, Kenya works. The Government has deliberately placed the sector at the centre of the country’s economic transformation four years ago,” the second in command said.
The DP highlighted the Government’s efforts to lower farm input costs, saying the price of fertiliser had fallen from Sh7,000 a bag in 2022 to Sh2,000 currently, while the price of certified maize seed had been cut by 50 per cent, from Sh300 to Sh150 per kilogramme. In the livestock sector, the price of sexed semen used in dairy breeding has also fallen from Sh8,000 to Sh1,400 per dose, making the technology more accessible to farmers.
Kindiki said the National Farmer Registration System had grown from about 300,000 farmers to 7.2 million crop farmers and three million livestock keepers, giving the Government a wider platform through which farmers can access subsidised inputs and other services. The farmer digitisation programme, implemented through the Kenya Integrated Agriculture Management Information System (Kiamis), was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development in early 2023 to streamline the delivery of Government services to farmers across the country.
Mr Kindiki said the Government’s objective is to ensure that interventions translate into higher productivity and incomes instead of simply increasing the number of farmers registered on government systems. “We committed to lower the cost of production, increase productivity, improve farmer incomes, expand agricultural insurance and financing, strengthen extension services, move farmers from food deficit to food surplus, reduce food imports, revive export value chains and capture greater value from our agricultural resources,” he explained.
The reforms, he added, were being implemented across crop, livestock and fisheries value chains, with the Government seeking to link farmers to finance, inputs, extension services, aggregation, storage, processing and markets.
The DP said Kenya has also recorded growth in several agricultural exports. Tea earnings, he revealed, have increased from Sh138 billion to Sh180 billion, while meat export value has risen from Sh8.9 billion to Sh12.9 billion.
The dairy sector has also expanded, with milk production increasing from 4.6 billion litres to 5.2 billion litres, while the value of dairy products rose from Sh4.9 billion to Sh8.9 billion. Kenya is now the leading exporter of processed milk in Africa, according to the Government.
In livestock, Prof Kindiki said 8.9 million cattle had been vaccinated under an ongoing programme targeting the country’s estimated 22 million cattle and 50 million small stock against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in cattle and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) (also known as goat plague) in sheep and goats.
He said the Government is also investing in value addition through 17 completed County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, which are being equipped to support agro-processing and manufacturing.
The Deputy President said agriculture could no longer be viewed as an activity confined to farms because food security depends on an interconnected system stretching from research and seed production to inputs, finance, extension, aggregation, storage, processing and markets. “The next phase must therefore build an integrated Kenyan agriculture food system from seed to farm, from farm to factory, and from factory to market,” he said.
He called for a greater role for the private sector, saying the Government should increasingly serve as an enabler of private investment, enterprise and innovation instead of being the sole actor in agricultural development.
Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the summit was designed to examine where Kenya had come from, where it was at present and where it was headed in agriculture and food systems, particularly as farmers contend with climate change shocks. He said the country must increase domestic food production and reduce dependence on imports, particularly wheat, where Kenya continues to import a large share of its national requirements.
“The Government is also expanding fisheries and aquaculture to strengthen food production and livelihoods. We have established and supported fish landing infrastructure, including nine fish landing sites between Migori and Busia, while fish farmers are receiving boats, cage-farming equipment and other support,” the Agriculture Ministry boss shared.
CS Kagwe stated that the Government has also established fish landing facilities along the Indian Ocean and Lake Victoria, supported Beach Management Units with grants and invested in aquaculture facilities and fingerling production. “Farmers have made a huge contribution to national food security; they are patriotic Kenyans because they work not only to earn an income but also to ensure that the country has enough food to feed its population,” Mr Kagwe praised them.
On the other hand, DP Kindiki said interventions by President William Ruto’s administration have increased the value of the fisheries sector from Sh37 billion to Sh59 billion, while fish production rose from 173,000 metric tonnes in 2022 to 189,000 metric tonnes in 2025.
Kagwe said livestock identification and traceability are also being strengthened so that animals and their owners can be identified and livestock health monitored from birth to slaughter. “The system is expected to help address cattle rustling and livestock theft while improving traceability within the meat value chain.”
Technology is emerging as another major component of the Government’s agricultural strategy. CS Kagwe said smart farming, including the use of drones and precision agriculture, would shape the future of farming by allowing farmers to apply fertiliser, pesticides and water according to the specific needs of crops. “That is the future of agriculture,” he said, describing precision farming as “the next frontier” for the sector.
Research and innovation have also been stepped up, with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) supporting the development of improved crop varieties, animal breeds and farming technologies.
The CS said the Government was also expanding extension services to support the growing number of young people entering agriculture as agripreneurs.
Prof Kindiki said the growing involvement of young people was important because the transformation of agriculture must create enterprises and employment opportunities instead of increasing production.
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