By Stephen Makabila
Kenya is a low-income, food-deficit country with a GDP per capita of about $775 (World Bank, 2010) and a Gross National Income (GNI) of $1,492 (UNDP, 2011).
The 2011 UNDP Human Development Report ranked Kenya among the “low human development” countries of the world, placing it 143rd out of 187 countries.
World Food Programme (WFP) operations in Kenya usually support the Government’s efforts in implementing all eight Millennium Development Goals and Kenya’s Vision 2030, the country’s national development blueprint.
The WFP report indicates drought crisis that ravaged much of northern Kenya in 2011 eased following reasonably good short rains during the final months of last year.
According to the current Short Rains Assessment Report, the number of people who need food assistance has decreased from 3.75 million at the height of the emergency to 2.2 million people.
However, recovery is fragile and affected pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities remain vulnerable.
According to the report, while nutrition levels have improved considerably in northern districts, malnutrition rates in some areas are still higher than the World Health Organisation’s 15 per cent emergency threshold.
According to surveillance reports, some 10 per cent to 33 per cent of children under five years of age in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas are at risk of malnutrition.
Considering that food security is a national challenge that the country’s leadership should address and as the March 4, polls approach, we sought views from presidential aspirants on their planned practical solutions to the recurrent food shortage in the country.
UHURU KENYATTA
This is how I plan to tackle the problem of recurrent food shortage in the country:
• Increase efficiency through mechanisation and modern technology while enhancing the certified seed and fertiliser subsidy programme to reduce the cost of food production and manage inflation.
• Within five years, put at least a million acres of land under modern irrigation and further expand agricultural production by applying technology on the current cultivated land and the 2.5 million acres presently not in use.
• Within two years, initiate and implement a public-private partnership insurance scheme to cushion livestock and crop farmers from risks including disasters and effects of climate change.
• Reduce the cost of credit by at least 50 per cent of the commercial rate to crop and livestock farmers and improve access through consolidating, rationalising and capitalising agricultural and livestock sector financial institutions (especially the Agricultural Finance Corporation & Agricultural Development Corporation).
• Initiate and support a county level framework for value addition through the processing of livestock and agricultural products at source to maximise returns to farmers.
• Double and diversify our national strategic food reserves from the current 22 per cent to 40 per cent of annual consumption.
• Double the agriculture sector budget from the current 5.3 per cent to at least 10 per cent as recommended under the Maputo Declaration to attain food surplus.
• Triple the budgetary allocation to scientific research and information and create a framework for technology transfer to enhance agricultural productivity.
• Provide the necessary infrastructure to support commercial agriculture and livestock production including green houses, dams, silos, warehouses and coolers.
• Revamp the mandate of the National Livestock Board to ensure continuous research on livestock agriculture, improve the marketing and value addition of livestock produce, and extend services to the pastoralists.
• Offer minimum guarantee to farmers in terms of crop price.
MARTHA KARUA
Operation Feed Nation
We are convinced that Kenyan farmers can feed the nation if the national government creates the right set of incentives and support mechanisms to protect farmers from perennial losses.
We have faith in the ability of Kenya to feed itself in line with national nutritional priorities.
There is a raging debate on whether Africans can feed themselves without consuming GMO food products. Some of our own leaders and policy makers have argued that there is no alternative (the so-called ‘TINA culture’) to GMOs given the continuing rampage of hunger in a continent so agriculturally endowed. Yet the experience of Kenya and Kenyans with famine shows that the above argument misses the point, largely because Kenya’s food security problem is more distributional that production-related. GMO predominantly addresses production. To banish the curse of preventable hunger and starvation:
1. Address infrastructural challenges to market access, post-harvest handling and storage, including expansion of the mandate and reach of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), as well as supporting and capitalising a vibrant farmers’ cooperative movement.
2. Operationalise the National Food Nutrition and Nutrition Security Policy and achieve its targets by 2015.
3. Commit 10 per cent of annual budget to agriculture and agricultural development as required by continental policy standards.
4. Robust public education for Kenyans on the need to diversify eating habits, including a greater appreciation of traditional foods.
5. Restore farming industry through technical and financial support, and price guarantees for essential food crops so as to cut off exploitative middle-men.
6. Transform the dry lands of Northern Kenya into food producing enclaves through massive irrigation.
MUSALIA MUDAVADI
UDF Party will restructure the economy to work for all Kenyans. We will transform the taxation system and resource allocation structures to ensure that all Kenyans, in all sectors of the economy and from all parts of the country, find real support to earn decent living.
The UDF government will create two million jobs by promoting the production of oil crops (eg sunflower, groundnuts, sim sim, jojoba, cashew nut, coconut, cotton, maize and palm). This will enable the country to save 50 billion shillings in foreign exchange currently being used for importation of 600,000 tonnes of palm oil annually. This will in turn promote the growing, processing and consumption of sunflower oil.
A UDF government will also triple dairy farmers’ incomes by having four million cows served with free, high-yield AI stocks per year. This will increase milk production to 15 billion litres from the current five billion per year, create 500,000 jobs in production, processing and marketing to the one trillion shilling COMESA milk market.
RAILA ODINGA
A Raila Odinga-led government will undertake the following measures to promote food security:
· Provide free extension services to small-scale farmers, livestock keepers and artisanal fisherfolk;
· Move away from overreliance on rain-fed agriculture to irrigation;
· Facilitate the development of improved high yielding and disease resistant animals among pastoralist communities, small-scale dairy farmers and those owning traditional stock.
· Provide subsidised veterinary services, treatment and control of diseases and develop a livestock insurance scheme.
· Devolve decision-making on funding, research prioritization, agro-processing and value addition to the County Governments. This will enhance production and create employment for local people.
· Streamline and strengthen the cooperative movement, including empowering agricultural institutions to offer soft loans to boost subsistence farming.
· Promote investment in modern, hygienic landing bays, storage and processing facilities, efficient transport and communication infrastructure on inland fishing areas.
· Provide funding, in partnership with the private sector to support groups engaged in aquaculture.
· Support the formation of fish farmers groups to increase their access to extension services and credit.
PETER KENNETH
A serious issue we have as a country is food insecurity. At 41 million Kenyans today, we are a hungry nation. Many Kenyans go without food and every spell of drought is always followed by famine at which sadly, some of our brothers and sisters lose their livelihoods and in some cases, their lives.
With our population growing at a rate of 1.2 million people a year, we will be at 53 million people in ten years. A growing population means more mouths to feed.
If we are hungry at 41 million, we must project ten years from now and be concerned about what it will be like when we are 53 million.
To guarantee food security, we have to invest very heavily in agriculture to ensure we are producing enough food for our population. Furthermore, I want to use agriculture as a lever to lift our people in the rural areas from poverty.
• I will increase acreage under food production by creating 10 major irrigation schemes.
• Ensure that agriculture as an occupation pays. We have to compensate farmers for their labour and assure them of a return.
• I will subsidise the cost of agricultural production through low interest financing of agricultural inputs and zero-rating of all agricultural inputs for VAT.
PROF JAMES OLE KIYIAPI
Food security should be looked at from a broader perspective to include social security where income of the people is lifted in ensuring they afford to buy food.
Under the approach, food insecurity can be fought by addressing environmental sustainability, farm inputs and extension services, storage and distribution and technological innovation.
There is need to increase the forest cover as a way of curbing soil erosion which undermines the volume of crop production.
Increasing the forest cover is key as it ensures reliable rainfall pattern hence consistent production.
More importantly, research is a very vital aspect in ensuring there is maximum food production.
My Government will invest a lot of resources in research.
There will be minimum or no importation of food from outside the country when harvests locally are rotting in farms.
To offer incentives to farmers, the government would ensure that farm inputs such as fertilizers and seeds are made available at the right time and at subsidised rates affordable to farmers.
There will also be value addition to farm produce in the areas of production. As a nation, it is possible to add value to our commodities right locally instead of exporting for processing.
Extension work
To ensure the modernised farming techniques are executed by farmers, there is a need to put more resources in training of extension service experts.
I will ensure an elaborate network extension system is put in place at the county level to help farmers adopt and apply modern farming techniques which ultimately will ensure high crop production.
