The Kenyan Agrarian Revolution

The Kenyan agrarian revolution was a deliberate undertaking facilitated by the government of Kenya. It also took spontaneous turns and a unique developmental direction that was applauded by many a pundit. Kenya was not going to be the first country in Africa to grow from a food deficient and insecure nation to an agricultural powerhouse, food secure and an exporter. Many countries had done it before us, but no national agricultural program could have been said to be as organic, both in its implementation and coordination.

The Kenyan agrarian revolution was kicked off by a nationwide registration of farmers and their farms. Farmer’s registration included their personal details and contacts, farming experience and access to government services. Whereas farm registration included the acreage, farming history, soil characteristics, past production, access to dams, irrigation and power supply. This allowed the government to understand the farming community and plan proper intervention strategies. This was followed by the digitization of this information for both government and public sector consumption. The government used this information for more efficient government services such as seed and fertilizer supply whereas the private sector used the information to advice their investment in the agricultural sector.

The registration and digitization of agricultural data was followed and in some cases aligned to other nationwide initiatives such as community driven dam and well construction programs. The community would provide the land and the labor while the government would provide the machinery to dig and construct these wells and dams. Water from these dams and wells still needed to get to peoples farms, so the government rolled out a rural water piping and irrigation program. This program allowed for farmers to access untaxed cheap piping and irrigation materials, developmental loans to farmers to pipe or irrigate their farms. In just over a year, a new dam was being constructed every month, in every county in Kenya and one well in every ward every day. Our water supply and irrigation network could not be rivaled by any in the world.

In line to bringing government services closer to the people, agricultural based one stop centers were also opened in all major agricultural districts. A farmer did not need to register in one place, buy subsidized seeds and fertilizer in another place and yet in a different place have his soil sample tested. Now all government agricultural based services and products could be accessed in one place. This included information on best practices and training on the same. One could also apply for loans from the agricultural finance corporation, for government sponsored dams and wells, hire farm machinery etc. Later on these centers would act as ready market for farm produce where government and private sector would compete for farm produce.

The Kenyan agrarian revolution could not have been a success if it was not for the mechanization of the agricultural sector. This was from a deliberate move by both the government and the private sector to invest in acquiring, hiring and leasing of farm equipments. It was only when a farmer could hire say a tractor to till his 3 acre land just as easily as large scale farmers could lease the same tractor that we knew we were headed somewhere. This mechanization extended to value addition of farm produce right at the farm by farmers, before using the available marketing and supply chains to sell their processed produce.

The challenge of marketing farm produce saw the introduction of new and innovative channels to reinforce traditional ones. This was mainly driven by technology. Web and mobile applications made it possible for a fast food restaurant in Nairobi order a sack of potato directly from a farmer in Nyahururu.  A farmer could sell his produce and shop for farm inputs on the same platform. It’s no surprise that the government agenda to interest and inspire youths to venture into farming was a success. The planning, implementation and sustainability of the Kenyan agrarian revolution rested on the innovation, energy and human capital of the Kenyan youths.