Kenya
There has been an alarming decline in the growth of farm output in Kenya
over the last 20 or so years. The modern Kenyan economy has been built
on agriculture, starting with the development of large-scale commercial
farms during the first half of the 20th Century. For almost 30 years thereafter,
smallholder development in the higher potential areas of Kenya was successful.
However since the 1980s agricultural growth rates have been falling and
since the 1990s it has been lagging behind that of the population.
Since late 2002 the Kenyan Government have been trying to promote agricultural
recovery and subsequently in 2004 the Strategy for the Revitalization
of Agriculture (SRA) was published. The strategy has a vision of transforming
agriculture into a more competitive and commercial sector that will enable
the private sector to function well. However there are at least three
major challenges to face:
- Simplifying the immense number of regulations that surround Kenyan farming
- Reforming the parastatals and the agricultural ministeries
- Solving failures in supply chains
Further reading
'Statement by H.E. Hon. Mwai Kibaki, CGH, MP, President of the Republic of Kenya during the 60th Session of the High Plenary of the United Nations General Assembly', 14 September 2005.IFAD in Kenya, September 2005
'Preparation of an Inventory of Research Work Undertaken in Agricultural / Rural Sector in Kenya', by Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development
for The World Bank, July 2004, James Nyoro and Joshua Ariga
