Posted on June, 18, 2019 at 10:20 am
Lewis Njoka - MediaMax Network
Food security experts are questioning whether the country can still realise the goal of food security as espoused in the Big Four agenda, given the shrinking financial support for agriculture sector.
Layla Liebetrau, Route to Food Initiative’s project head faulted the budget, saying it did not reflect the political prominence and commitment the government has given to food security under the Big Four agenda – critical to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s legacy.
“The government spending on agriculture is inadequate, poorly targeted, and one that cannot result in food security for all as envisioned in the Constitution,” she added.
In the 2019/2020 budget presented by National Treasury Cabinet secretary Henry Rotich last Thursday, the sector, which employs over 70 per cent of population, was allocated only Sh59.1 billion, equivalent to three per cent of the total budget. The allocation is for agriculture, rural and urban development.
Agriculture quota is to be shared among its six sub-sectors of which Sh3 billion will go to coffee, Sh2 billion to value addition, Sh7.9 billion to irrigation, Sh1 billion to crop diversification, Sh0.8 billion to improve fish landing sites and Sh0.7 billion to smallholder dairy farmers.
Agriculture quota was lower than the amount allocated to health at five per cent, national security at nine per cent, and was only equal to that allocated to social protection, culture and recreation. Experts say the allocation is barely enough considering that agriculture, livestock, fisheries and the blue economy contribute about 52 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), account for 57 per cent of exports and provide 60 per cent of employment in rural areas.
The allocation also seems to have put a spotlight on the different views held by food security experts on how financial support should be given out to players in agriculture sector.
While Liebetrau observed that the bulk of agricultural resources allocated in the budget went to support large-scale farming ignoring smallholder farmers, Timothy Njagi, a research fellow at Tegemeo Institute, a food security think-tank, holds contrary view.
Offering incentives
Njagi said the government should consider offering incentives and subsidies to large-scale farmers as opposed to smallholder farmers in line with Agricultural Growth and Transformation Strategy, saying it was the only economical way to achieve food security.
He also believes the real problem is in utilisation, not total budgetary allocation per se.
“The three per cent allocation is not bad, the real problem is inefficiency in how it is utilised as several of the allocations made from the national government cut, such as smallholder dairy and fish landing sites are best left to county governments,” he said.
“What’s the point of allocating so much (money) to Galana-Kulalu or what does the allocation to miraa farmers really do?” posed Njagi.
He said the new revenue allocation formula should give counties an allocation specifically for agriculture to help them achieve their food security goals. “Agriculture should be adequately funded at both national and county levels as it is a devolved function,” the researcher added.
Njagi said Kenya is still a long way from attaining food security considering that 32 per cent of the country’s population still lack enough food.
“We need to come up with a policy that makes it easier to lease land, farm in large-scale and discourage farming that makes no economic sense,” he said.
Food security, Njagi argued, can best be attained when only a few capable investors farm while the rest find jobs in agro-processing and other sectors as opposed to the current situation where the majority of the population is engaged in subsistence farming.
He called on the government to ensure that the allocation to agriculture is spent efficiently and avoid duplicate funding to projects already receiving money from county governments.
The budget failed to allocate adequate funding to provide farmers with quality agricultural inputs or mitigate against adverse weather changes and other risks that face the agriculture sector.
In its report on 2019/2020 budget estimates, Kimani Ichung’wa-led Budgetary Allocations Committee decried the reduction of the fertiliser subsidy allocation.
Source: MediaMax Network