The government is putting in place programmes to support business activities at the lower segments of economic pyramid. This is in line with the Kenya Kwanza campaign manifesto to revolutionise development. The strategy is to stimulate growth by investing in small-scale businesses and the production of primary products for local consumption.
The Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda aims at empowering the hustlers to become the mainstay of the national economic development.
In realisation of the agenda, the government has sought to invest in the hawkers and owners of kiosks. Additionally, there have been deliberate efforts to inject resources in the productive sectors of agriculture, dairy and jua kali. The agriculture sector together with the dairy sector remain prime movers in this endeavour. The jua kali segment serves as the key support service for the two. It produces tools and implements for use in production in the two main sectors.
Jua kali therefore rides on the back and thrives on the success of agriculture and animal husbandry. Similarly, the hawkers and owners of small business shops and kiosks rely heavily on selling agricultural produce as their main stock in trade.
Large-scale agricultural productivity has since dwindled. This is on account of the vagaries brought about by new technologies in the processing value chain. Many agricultural industries have stopped production and closed down due to use of obsolete machinery. They are no longer competitive and have lost traditional markets to emerging production sites.
The government has been unable to sustain the subsidies it has been injecting into the agricultural sector to underwrite production costs. The trend has seen hitherto thriving factories become museums of economic productivity. Employment opportunities were lost and livelihoods shattered. Most of these factories in the coffee, tea, grains and sugar cane plantations were owned by foreign conglomerates. When the investment environment became unattractive and unviable, they shifted to countries with favourable conditions and incentives.
It should be noted that alongside the large-scale agricultural and dairy enterprises, were small-scale and peasant farming. Production in these twin sectors were not mechanised. It utilised hand labour and simple farm implements. However, it also relied on and benefitted heavily from government extension services. These services supported production by providing expert advice to farmers at the very local levels. Government officers were deployed at the locational levels to help farmers with preparation for planting, crop protection, harvesting and appropriate storage technologies. Farm inputs were issued and modern land preparation methods were employed to ensure maximum productivity. Local agricultural officers ensured that land for tilling and the general environment were well taken care of. Forests and rivers were jealously protected from wanton exploitation.
The same was case in dairy production. Veterinary officers were always at hand to offer basic preventive and curative services to livestock farmers. Outbreaks of livestock diseases were arrested and contained in time before spreading. Improvement of breeds through cross-insemination and vaccination ensured enhanced quantities and quality of dairy products. Services like vaccination were entirely free and livestock farmers were regularly mobilised to participate. Measures to control ticks and other vectors were regular and government-supported. Cattle dips were built in easily accessible sites for farmers and aerial spray of areas infested with tsetse flies were carried out promptly.
And then there were the health technicians who ensured the safety of the public. They regularly inspected business premises to ensure that the markets and shops where consumer goods were stocked conformed to approved health standards. This prevented pandemics.
Extension services were established by the Government of Kenya to be operated by the public and private sectors. It has become one of the critical inputs required for increased agricultural productivity to transform subsistence farming into modern and commercial farming. It also ensures that the country attains food security, improves incomes and reduces poverty.
It dates back to the early 1900s, but its only notable success then was in the dissemination of hybrid maize technology. The latest version of the programme was initiated with collaboration and support from SIDA, the Swedish International Development Agency. The Kenya National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme Phase I started in July 2000. After the division of the Ministry, NALEP has been implemented through the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development.
The most common extension approaches being used in Kenya are field days, demonstrations, farmer visits, ICTs, trails, FAAs, tours, and FFS. Out of these, the ones that promote social mobilisation are used to target women including Self-Help Groups, demonstrations, groups, and short courses. Over time agricultural extension policy in Kenya has suffered the following setbacks: aging and reduced staffing and funding for operations, lack of participatory technology development, and poor packaging and information dissemination. The policy also lacks the capacity to control conflicting messages to the farmers, such as unnecessary competition, duplication of efforts, and general lack of synergy among these extension providers.
Currently the extension officer to farm household ratio in Kenya is at 1: 1,093, against the recommended 1:400 by the Food and Agriculture Organization. This has really affected service delivery when it is greatly required. The extension officers also lack supplies of essential support farm inputs and veterinary medicines.
The frustration that small-scale and peasant farmers go through has forced many to abandon agriculture altogether. Many of those who still tend to their farms count losses every season and harvest paltry returns. The courses in agriculture and livestock development in national institutions of higher learning have lost their allure in the labour market. Fewer students are attracted to the courses, thereby drastically reducing the available and qualified workforce. Institutions that were established to primarily focus on the training for agriculture and animal husbandry have had to change course and tack. Egerton Agricultural College, now university, and Jomo Kenyatta College of Agricultural Technology are today much less in both agriculture and technology. The international tilling competition at Egerton wound up, closed shop and moved elsewhere.
Since farming and livestock rearing are key to national food security, the government must address the inadequacy of extension services. Households should be supported to access quality and affordable technical and mitigating services from experts. This will assist in making production sufficient for domestic consumption and surplus sale. Families will have good nutritional health and financial resources to spend on their other social needs. The demand for bursaries and harambee-financed medicare will greatly decline. The disposable income in the hands of citizens will bring happiness to people and ease the burden on the government.
There is need to encourage bottom-up, grassroots extension programme planning by farmers. This will not only make extension services demand-driven, but also exercise supply-driven, top-down modality. It will promote common public good practices such as conservation of natural resources and environment protection. It would also ensure effective operational linkages between extension, research and relevant private sector institutions. The government must prioritise political and financial commitments to extension services if the BETA agenda is to be realised.
This will free more resources for the government to engage in other development initiatives that require heavy investments. These include the affordable housing and other infrastructure projects. The education and healthcare sectors will definitely demand huge funding. These are social services that need the direct intervention of the government for effectiveness and efficiency that is derived from the economies of scale.
Political and public policy analyst
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