Climate-smart agriculture project achieve mixed results - Report

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

A recent audit by the Auditor General paints a grim picture of the Sh29 billion Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSA).

The project was launched in 2017 and aimed to boost agricultural productivity and climate resilience for smallholder farmers.

Among the successes realised, Nyeri County, according to the audit, took the least time to transfer funds from the Special Purpose Account to the project operations account.

Another success story, in Kisumu County, revealed that the Gem Rae irrigation scheme increased the total acreage of land under irrigation from 150 to 400 acres.

The report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu notes that this could lead to increased output from the farms.

In addition, farmers were also able to undertake agricultural activities throughout the year.

In Nyeri County, Kiria Dam Irrigation Water Project in Kieni West increased capacity from 30,000 cubic to 100,000 cubic, thus serving more farmers within the area.

The same was also reported in Kakamega county, where a group of fish farmers, running the Khwisero Fish Hatchery, were able to double the number of fish ponds from 14 to 29.

However, auditors interviewed a principal investigator for Egerton University, who revealed that the use of sorghum for ethanol production has not been validated and distribution of mini-kits to farmers has not been conducted.

The validation and promotion of the sorghum-based products value chain were to be done in Kisumu, Kericho, and Baringo counties.

For the first four financial years 2018-2019 to 2021-2022, the late disbursement of funds led to delays in the implementation of the project.

An interview with the National Project Accountant revealed that the delays in disbursement of funds to the counties were attributed to late approvals of the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) by Parliament.

Further, during the same interview, it was established that no funds were disbursed in the financial year 2017-2018 because the project line expenditure was not incorporated in the budget for the year.

This affected the commencement of the Participatory Integrated Community Development (PICD) process where community mobilisation and establishment of the community organs to steer the project.

In Kisumu County, the audit revealed that though the first disbursement was received on January 30, 2019, the transfer of funds to Operational Account was done 14 months later. This translated to a delay of approximately 420 days, or approximately 14 months.

The audit also noted that the earliest time taken to transfer funds from the Special Purpose Account to the Operations Account was 57 days or approximately two months.

A review of funds transfer in Isiolo found Sh33 million which was part of first disbursement was fragmented in three instalments.

Further, the audit noted significant delays in transfer of funds, with the shortest time taken being 81 days or 2.7 months and the longest being 548 days or approximately 18 months.

The audit revealed Sh60 million disbursed to Isiolo County was irregularly transferred on June 4, 2021, to a KCB account belonging to Isiolo County.

The auditors observed though it was later reversed it caused three months delays in project implementation.

The audit noted that even though counties were implementing rain-reliant value chains, they did not make adequate plans on procurement of key farm inputs.

It was noted during a field interview with Glory Disability CBO in Kisumu county that the total sorghum yield was low because long rains were missed as a result of the delay in ploughing.

Further, Wanganga Kwe Ber, a CIG in Kisumu did not receive cassava cuttings on time for the planting.

“This was attributed to county officials not instituting adequate plans to ensure procurement of farm inputs was done before the rainy season.”

The auditors observed that some projects were hosted at individual farmer homesteads, and there were no structured systems for practical skill transfers to other group members.

This was prevalent under indigenous chicken and dairy cow value chains, where few individual farmers were in charge.

A review by the OAG team found a project at Parkuruk catchment in Isiolo stalled due to failure to undertake feasibility studies to evaluate the subsurface soil conditions at the

lt was noted that the project had stalled after floods ravaged the constructed dam structure after heavy rains that had hit the area in October 2019. The destruction was attributed to the loose nature of the soil, which is prone to erosion.

“Consequently, the project stalled since the total funds allocated for the project had been utilized and additional funding was required to finance ancillaries.”