8 May 2008
editorial
Nairobi — This week's launch of a Sh3 billion loan facility for farmers could not have come at a more opportune time.
This is because the country needs a comprehensive programme on food production to alleviate the cyclic famine that undermines social and economic development.
All too often, farmers fail to produce to capacity due to lack of funds to cultivate land and buy farm inputs. Agricultural production remains at the basic level, and is easily outstripped by consumption.
This time round, the country faces the spectre of mass starvation due to a combination of factors - low rainfall, high cost of farm inputs, declining food production internationally, and socio-political unrest that followed last year's bungled polls.
Kenya is essentially an agricultural country. At least 70 per cent of the population eke out a living from small-scale farming.
This means that agriculture deserves a lot of resources, which, unfortunately, are never forthcoming.
This is because what the Government collects in the form of tax has to be shared across many competing priorities like infrastructure, health and education.
Against this background, the partnership between the Government, Equity Bank, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad), to open a credit facility to farmers is not only desirable, but provides an example that should be emulated by others.
For Kenya, food security is increasingly becoming a major developmental and even political challenge. The fluctuating crop output renders serious planning untenable and accentuates poverty.
In countries of Asia and West Africa, food riots are becoming a serious security threat. Thus, for Kenya, averting the looming famine is an urgent imperative.
The broader lesson here is that so long as the Government is ready to provide guarantees, private investors and international agencies are willing to put their money into activities like agriculture.
Most importantly, crop production must be a priority for this Government. We must avoid a situation where the country goes begging for cash to buy food.
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