Key agricultural projects remain incomplete in what is a blow to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s goal of ensuring all Kenyans access adequate nutritious food.
A report by working sector group, which looks at land, agriculture, water and sanitation, shows that numerous projects are behind schedule.
Construction of land registries, which was to start in July 2013 and end in June 2022, has only made a two per cent progress.
Sh24 million of the Sh1.12 billion allocated for the project has been gobbled up.
Only six per cent of the expected renovation of land offices has been achieved.
Geo-referencing of land parcels countrywide, the process of matching maps with their ground coordinates for easier registration and administration, and setting up of a hydrographic database, have also stalled.
The ministry blames this on late release of funds by the Exchequer. Some Sh89 million has been used for both projects against a budget of Sh2.1 billion. Both projects started in mid-2013 and should be completed by July 2025.
Even as tea farmers cry foul over unpaid dues and falling prices, construction of a tea research and development factory aimed at increasing value addition is only 39 per cent complete.
Another project in support of value addition to coffee and whose deadline was end of 2017 is at 71 per cent complete. For both projects, Sh326.25 million and Sh100 million have been spent, respectively.
And with only five per cent of the coffee industry revitalisation project achieved and Sh240 million of the 1.5 billion used, the project was transferred to the presidency and went dormant in what is another hit to the sector.
The pyrethrum industry, once one of Kenya’s most robust industries, was put on a recovery scheme that would see Sh3.48 billion pumped into the sector. Six years later, progress stands at an uninspiring eight per cent.
On the development of agriculture technology innovation centre, strengthening mechanisation and mechanisation of agriculture development, only Sh631 million has been disbursed by the exchequer against Sh5.665 billion target.
The State Department for Fisheries, Aquaculture and the Blue Economy seems to wallow in neglect, with projects that are slated for completion by mid-2020 barely getting started. With most of them at around three per cent, time is running out on the government even as a mere Sh1.574 billion has been spent against an estimated cost of Sh42.923 billion that the exchequer should dispatch.
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