Kenyan Government rated low in supporting farmers

NAIROBI, KENYA: The national and county governments have been rated poorly in their support to small-scale farmers across the country thereby undermining the chances of food security

A research study conducted on 1500 small-scale farmers in 26 counties across the country has revealed that majority of them (73 per cent) reported receiving no form of support from either the national and county governments in forms of farm inputs, financial assistance or capacity building.

The findings are from a national research on the change of land use and food security in the country conducted by the Catholic Church's Jesuit Hakimani Centre (JHC), a research organisation based in Nairobi. The research was conducted between May and July this year.

"The government seems to be struggling to assist small scale farmers. Agricultural extension services meant to support farmers, for instance, are not felt by many of them. Most farmers find it difficult to access the available subsidised inputs such as fertiliser and seeds," said Dr. Elias Mokua, JHC Director and a Lecturer of the University of Nairobi.

However, the farmers that reported receiving the most support were in Machakos and Homabay Counties while those in Isiolo and Embu Counties reported receiving the least support.

The research study also revealed that farm inputs are what small-scale farmers want most from the government (51 per cent) followed by financial assistance (15 per cent) and capacity building (13 per cent) so that they can improve their farming methods.

Others are marketing of products (10 per cent), agricultural extension (8 per cent) and transport network (5 per cent).

Almost half of the small-scale farmers surveyed (46 per cent) reported not being visited by agricultural extension officers from the government.

The majority of farmers surveyed (44 per cent) rated the services from extension workers as poor. But those in Homabay and Machakos reported receiving the most visits from such officers.

Other counties that reported strong observable presence of agricultural officers including Migori, Siaya, Kilifi, Uasin Gishu and Mombasa. However Isiolo, Turkana and west pokot reported receiving the least visits from such officers.