Posted on February, 27, 2019 at 08:30 am
By LILLIAN ONYANGO
Agriculture is the backbone of the economy and the cornerstone of food and nutrition security - a key imperative for survival and economic productivity. Access to quality food is a constitutional right, hence, the need to focus all efforts towards producing adequate and affordable food for all.
Despite government obligations to take steps to progressively achieve the full realisation of the right to food, budget allocation to agriculture follows the same pattern. Even after public participation in shaping the Budget Policy Statement, recommendations from various actors are disregarded in the final document. The drafters of the statement, it appears, have a script they would never depart from.
Environmentally conscious agriculture production suffers greatly; the safety of food is at rock bottom; farmers’ livelihoods are in jeopardy and Kenya’s ability to meet future generations’ food needs increasingly seems unlikely.
According to the Global Hunger Index 2018, one in three Kenyans suffers from severe food insecurity and poor nutrition. Ironically, the sector’s critical role is not lost on the government, which has made it a priority in the Big Four agenda.
That there are few gains in agriculture is not for lack of ideas on how to break the chain of hunger. There’s just more talk and less action, or action but with the wrong focus; and stubborn unwillingness to take others’ ideas into consideration.
Proposals, such as the need to finance big-ticket agricultural projects with the potential to enhance food security, and proper investment across the value chain, are never implemented. Only Sh7.7 billion made it in the statement following a proposal to allocate Sh40.6 billion.
The question we should be asking ourselves in the first place is whether big agriculture projects are an effective solution to chronic food and nutrition insecurity. The majority of farmers are smallholders and the problem of food insecurity is not one of production, but distribution and economic access.
Even talk of the need to address the plight of smallholder farmers is but mere words. Consequently, farmers and the sector have been left vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. There is no meaningful political commitment to institute small-scale irrigation projects, or enhancing access to, and knowledge about ecological ways of farming, among others.
The same goes for post-harvest losses. Why are we so set on production when an estimated 40 per cent of the food that is produced goes to waste? These are the reasons contribution of agriculture to GDP slowed down to 1.7 per cent, from the previous year’s 4.1 per cent, according to the Economic Survey 2018 Highlights.
Things will remain bleak unless the all-talk trend is replaced with action. The recently released 2019 Budget Policy Statement continues on the same path, waxing lyrical about government’s plan to increase food production, boost smallholder productivity and reduce the cost of food.
However, it fails to concretise this. This is an issue of grave concern because this document sets out broad strategic priorities and policy goals to guide budgeting for national and county governments.
The National Treasury, it appears, is only interested in ticking a box, as required by the Public Finance Management Act, 2012. This is a mockery of the sanctity of public participation.
Until talk is matched with action, and the views of other stakeholders are taken seriously, we will continue doing the same thing over and over – while wondering why many Kenyans still struggle to access quality food and our human right remains an illusion.
Brand and media coordinator at Route to Food Initiative
Source: The Star