Use budget to ensure country is food secure

By Fred Aminga

Drought and famine have exposed Kenya’s soft underbelly as a food insecure country despite significant resources allocated both at the National and County level in the past few years.

Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) chairman Julius Mwatu said both levels of government must double efforts and use all resources well particularly by enhancing irrigation projects to reduce the country’s overreliance on rain-fed agriculture.

The institute called for taxes on agriculture to be reduced to spur growth, urging the government to improve access to financial services and credit for agriculture and rural development.

“Funding levels, especially to the sectors that contribute to food security such as Agriculture and manufacturing should be increased,” he said in a statement, adding that there is need to ensure governments meet the 10 per cent budget allocation for agriculture according to the Maputo Declaration.

Agriculture being a devolved function, Mwatu said countries should establish grain reserves while reviewing the early warning systems. The institute also took issue with North Eastern counties for their poor performance following continued modified audit opinions and Auditor General’s reports which indicate deteriorating trends.

Mwatu said data from the Annual Budget Implementation Report showed Garissa and Wajir counties absorbed less than 50 per cent of their development budget as compared to other counties in the region in the financial year 2017/18.

Source: MediaMax Network