End of the Line for Amateur Agriculture

As I type this, three and a half million Kenyans will most likely go to bed hungry today. Six of the forty-seven counties in Kenya are food insecure, and more counties are likely to follow if the rains continue being scarce. All this in a country where thirty-eight million people are employed in the agricultural sector, and clichés like “Agriculture is the backbone of the Kenyan economy” are thrown around in classrooms, sitting-rooms, and airwaves. Much attention has been given to the sector, but the paradox of a starving agricultural economy has continued to baffle successive administrations. This kitendawili has been so complex that Uhuru Kenyatta’s government has figured it is time Kenya became an industrialized country. If the plan becomes successful, Kenya will be on the path taken by other developed countries. However, much thought has to be given to how transitioning from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing one will mean for our food security, another core “pillar” of the current administration.

As a country, Kenya is following the capitalist model of development. Western countries have successfully pulled off this plan, and have been zealous in selling it to the rest of the world. In these countries, agriculture accounts for very little regarding GDP contribution and employment. In 2015, the contribution of American farms was 1% of the total GDP, and direct on-farm employment accounted for 1.4% of full employment1. In Europe, the picture is the same, and in a country such as Sweden only 3% of the economically active are employed within the agricultural sector, and in 2016 only 1.3% of Sweden’s GDP was from agriculture2. Despite the small size of their agricultural industries, Sweden (81.7%3 of total households) and the USA (87.7%4 of total households) are food secure. If Kenya is to industrialize, the figures recorded by our agricultural sector, 24% direct GDP contribution and 60% full employment, need to drop drastically5. Here’s the catch, even with these figures we can’t feed ourselves. The agricultural output of 29 million Kenyans who work in the sector can't feed the producers and the 19.3 million Kenyans engaged in industry and service sectors. More than 51% of our population lacks access to adequate food. Therefore, as the economy makes the transition to industrialization, and the agricultural sector shrinks, food security is going to continue being a problem. Corruption and inefficiency on the part of the Kenyan government will ensure even more Kenyans starve. However, this need not happen... Forever

One of the critical issues that need to be addressed for us to conquer drought once and for all is to change the modus operandi, and image of the farmer. Today, farming is often viewed as the occupation of the old retiree or the frustrated youth unable to find employment. The issue is not that such a demographic is involved in farming, after all, agriculture is the most amateur-friendly economic sector. The problem lies in the transference of knowledge. Despite the investment in agricultural training in all levels of education, Kenyan farmers are still amateurs. Firms in the sector dedicate much of their resources to extension services aimed at upgrading the production methods employed by farmers. This is the case because few of those trained in agriculture become full-time farmers. Instead, they join the legions of trainers deployed to train the inexpert youths and retirees on how to become better farmers. As a result, the sector’s output continues to stagnate despite investments in new technologies and training models. In a country where there's an extra mouth to feed every 20 secs, stagnation in food production is catastrophic.

It is high time those equipped with technical knowledge go to the fields themselves because amateurs cannot handle the challenges now faced in the agricultural sector. Climate change has become a significant problem and is a contributing factor to our current food crisis. Adapting the country’s farming practices to overcome this problem will require the efforts of our best farmers and rethinking of our farming models. For instance, livestock farming is responsible for 14.5% green house gas emissions and is partly responsible for causing climate change (Rojas-Downing, Nejadhashem and Harrigan). In Kenya, the livestock sector employs 50% of those working in the agricultural industry and contributes 40% to the agricultural GDP7. Do we get rid of livestock farming and sacrifice the economy for the sake of the planet? If yes, how do you cushion pastoralist communities from the economic and cultural loss? If not, is there a sustainable way to keep livestock?

We are not going to find the answers to such questions in policy board meetings and conferences, but by experimenting with our farming practices, creating models that address such challenges, and tweaking them until we optimize our farming operations in a sustainable manner. The expected shrinking of the agricultural sector due to the industrialization of the country means that we can’t proceed with amateurish M-Os. As fewer farmers are trusted with the food security of millions of households, we better be damn sure those farmers know what they are doing or risk subjecting even more Kenyans to food insecurity. Having experts as farmers would also cut the costs agribusiness firms incur in their endeavors to train farmers, and such resources can be diverted to R&D. Needless to say that such farmers would not be taken advantage of by politicians. For example, they would know whether farming genetically modified crops is good or bad and so on. It would also make it easier for knowledge and technology to diffuse from colleges and labs to the farm, facilitating faster achievement of efficiency, which is the hallmark of agricultural success.

We live in the 21^st century, at a time when the world is interlinked via the internet, air, and sea. Unlike previous eras, the surplus in one country can be easily transferred to another part of the world experiencing a deficit. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics and agriculture will know that “if people starve to death…it is because some politician wants them to” (Harari). In this era, food security is a political issue, and anyone pointing at the skies is lying. We need to work towards making our agricultural sector efficient by letting our best farmers, and those trained in farming to apply their knowledge. Once the pros are in the fields, and we have a supportive, corrupt-free government, no Kenyan will ever go to bed hungry.

Works Cited

Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus. London: Vintage, 2017. Print. 

Rojas-Downing, M. Melissa, et al. "Climate change and livestock: Impacts, adaptation, and mitigation." Climate Risk Management (2017): 145-163. Print.