Discussion Paper No. 83 of 2008 on Scaling-up Domestic Support for Sustainable Development of Agriculture in Kenya

Abstract

Despite prospects for recovery of the agricultural sector in Kenya, there are a myriad of constraints and challenges. Among these are spiralling prices of key agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and energy, political conflicts and poor weather conditions. Coupled with resource constraints and poor timing of government responses, these constraints are likely to depress agriculture production and aggravate high food prices and uncertainty about access to food staples. Meanwhile, government expenditures on agriculture are minimal and can hardly stimulate desired production and growth rates. For instance, the current and projected expenditures on the entire productive sector fall below the recommended 10 per cent target reflected in the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) of the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD). The WTO agreement on agriculture discourages member states from increasing trade-distorting interventions or direct price payments to agricultural producers. It also provides flexibilities to enable member states undertake agricultural reforms to protect their livelihoods, food security and rural development concerns. Kenya has considerable freedom to scale up agriculture expenditures without the contravention of her domestic support commitments at the WTO. Such support can be packaged under the Green Box measures, which comprise government financed programmes and the de minimis provisions. This study suggests a refocus to boost agricultural production and supply, including increasing national budget to agriculture, targeted provision of financial and technical support to farmers, accelerated investments in water and irrigation and agro-processing, and market development. These will facilitate attainment of the desired goals of the MDGs, CAADP, the Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture and Vision 2030. The development and timely provision of better quality farm inputs and associated services targeting farmers, livestock keepers, fisher folk and traders will be central to successful implementation of these recommendations. However, the pre condition should be enforcement of an appropriate legal and institutional framework designed to eliminate existing barriers to production, processing and marketing of agricultural produce.