Greening the Kenya Agricultural Sector Transformational and Growth Strategy

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan economy, accounting for 24% of gross domestic product directly and another 27% indirectly. In addition to driving Kenya's economy, the sector is a means of livelihood for most Kenyans. Kenya Vision 2030, the country's development programme for the period 2008–2030, identifies agriculture as a key sector for achieving annual economic growth of 10%. The Government considers that a critical factor in achieving this target is the transformation of the smallholder subsistence agriculture sector into an innovative, commercially oriented, modern agricultural sector. Given the high correlation between economic growth and the development of agriculture, as well as the importance of the sector in absorbing the labour force, greening Kenya's agricultural sector is essential for greening the economy as a whole.

The Agricultural Sector Transformational and Growth Strategy 2018-2030
The agricultural sector has witnessed remarkable changes in the context of the implementation of sector plans for food and nutrition security. The Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (2010–2020) has been the overall national policy document for the rural sector ministries since 2010. Launched to succeed the Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (2004–2020) and embedded in Kenya Vision 2030, the strategy has served as a blueprint for the ministries responsible for the agricultural sector. Since the formulation of the strategy in 2010, there have been several notable changes in the country that needed to be addressed through the development of a new strategy and investment plan, which led to the development of the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (2018–2030) (ASTGS). 

The ASTGS is expected to serve as the main instrument for mobilizing the needed public and private investment, including support from development partners for inclusive green growth. More importantly, it will establish a mechanism for ensuring that the new aspirations and targets are cascaded and incorporated into County Integrated Development Plans.

Greening Kenya’s Agriculture Sector: review and harmonize existing policies and strategies.

Green agriculture is characterized by shifting both commercial and subsistence farming towards more productive and ecologically-sound farming practices such as efficient use of water, extensive use of organic and natural soil nutrients, optimal tillage, integrated pest control and agro forestry.

At its meeting in February 2018, the SWITCH Africa Green National Technical Coordination Committee for Kenya discussed the potential for the policy support component of SWITCH Africa Green to facilitate the greening of the ASTGS. The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation requested United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) support to (1) raise the awareness of the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the indicators for greening the agricultural sector and (2) support the drafting of a green ASTGS. This culminated in a workshop that brought together various experts for the purpose of achieving this objective. The workshop took place on 3 and 4 May 2018, with the primary objective of ensuring that environmental sustainability was integrated into the strategy. The greening of the ASTGS took the shape of a workshop where the experts reviewed the strategy, section by section, and proposed environmental sustainability aspects for inclusion. It was attended by 26 experts and senior policy advisors from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and relevant United Nations agencies. 

The meeting began with remarks from Mr. Robert Wabunoha of UNEP, who said that the agricultural sector was of key importance. A source of livelihood for the majority of Kenyans, it supported production in other key areas of the economy through linkages. “It has been established that the world needs to grow agricultural production by 70% by 2050 to feed the growing population,” said Mr. Wabunoha, adding that Kenya was the first country to green a policy under the SWITCH Africa Green programme and that it would serve as an example for other countries. There were many opportunities to green the agricultural sector, at all levels of the value chain. The goal was to transition to a green economy with employment growth, sustainable consumption and reduced poverty. 

Mr. Augustine Kenduiwo of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry explained that the term “greening” meant increasing efficiency in the utilization of resources and reducing the negative effects on the environment in the production life cycle – the opposite of “browning” the environment. “Green growth” was achieved by reducing negative effects on the environment – in other words, through business process reengineering. It also meant developing a low-carbon pathway without compromising economic growth. He reaffirmed that the focus of Kenya’s Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (GESIP) was the entire agriculture value chain and included developing irrigation systems and ensuring water efficiency, for sustainability in both production and consumption. To achieve this, there were three prerequisites: technology production and transfer, capacity-building and training, and financial resources.

“The global market is demanding green products, hence the need to link up materials and products to ensure that the whole value chain is green. By producing in an environmentally sound manner, the country will be able to attract the global niche market to compete favourably,” said Mr. Kenduiwo in concluding his presentation.

For a country to develop it has to move from relying on raw material export to value addition and manufacturing. This is a key area and the investment in the agriculture sector needs to be directed toward achieving this objective." - Mr Gibson Kira

Mr. Gibson Kiragu, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, said that the draft strategy needed to focus more on livestock, given that Kenya consisted mostly of arid and semi-arid land where the main economic activity was livestock rearing. He added that all agriculture enterprises needed to be greened so as to attract more demand on the world market, as most Kenyan exports were agricultural.

“We should green all agriculture enterprises, which can be done through the adoption of environmental conservation initiatives, such as reducing the use of wood as a source of energy in agricultural factories and focusing on irrigation, which boosts production given the small amount of agricultural land,” said Mr. Kiragu. He added that various development partners had shown interest in supporting irrigation in Kenya and it was necessary to reciprocate, by greening the subsector by using hydro power as a source of energy instead of diesel fuel, reducing agricultural waste, and reducing the use of chemical fertilizers.

After the opening session, the draft strategy was presented, and discussion was opened on the inclusion of environmental sustainability aspects. The discussion was guided by a “How to Green the Agriculture Sector” matrix developed by UNEP.

 

Indicators for Greening the Agriculture Sector
The opportunities to green the strategy were narrowed down to Water efficiency, Sustainable land management, Energy efficiency use to get best production, Climate smart agriculture: species and type of seeds, use of organic pesticides, Enterprise aspects: labeling traceability post- harvest losses, green Job creation, Eco innovation; Maximizing use of inputs vs outputs and Compliance assistance. 

The actual Greening of the ASTGS took the shape of a working workshop where the experts reviewed the strategy section by section and proposed integration of environmental sustainability aspects.
A notable inclusion as result of the workshop was the inclusion of a new principle in the Strategy on environment.

Principle 9: Promote a sustainable and resilient transformation.

Actively managing Kenya’s natural resources is at the heart of the country’s ability to respond to looming food system risks, including climate change and disaster management. Addressing these challenges will not only sustainably increase agricultural production and put food on the table today, it will also ensure that future generations of Kenyans can continue to benefit from agriculture.

The experts provided a final report with recommendations on greening the ASTGS in its entirety.
Closing the workshop, Ms. Kamala Ernest of UNEP thanked the experts for taking on the difficult task of reviewing the strategy section by section.

This is just the beginning of greening the Agriculture sector, in time we will look at greening the County agricultural plans and how we can engage in the county level” -Ms. Kamala Ernest

The workshop was officially closed by Agriculture Secretary Ms. Anne Onyango, who noted the need to incorporate the relevant Sustainable Development Goals into the document. “There is a need to bring back the pillar on sustainable management in the document, which addressed environment-related issues. Discussion is underway to address this, among other important aspects that need to be included,” said Ms. Onyango. She commended the efforts of the experts and their excellent technical input and thanked UNEP for the support it had provided, including for the workshop. 

“There is need to bring back the pillar on sustainable management in the document which addressed environment related issue. Discussion is underway to address this amongst other important aspects that need to be included.” Said Ms. Onyango.

She commended the efforts of the experts present and their excellent technical inputs and thanked UN Environment for the support they provided including in the current workshop on greening the Strategy.