Kenya’s agricultural sector provides a majority of Kenyans with employment, income and food security. A grounding force for both the economy and livelihoods, agriculture makes up about
33 per cent of the country’s total GDP, employs over
40 per cent of the total population (while employing more than 70 per cent of the rural population), and accounts for over
60 per cent of exports. Unfortunately, climate change has caused land erosion, soil degradation, a rise in pest infestation and unpredictable changes in precipitation patterns, thus severely affecting agricultural systems and productivity.
The Aga Khan University’s East Africa Institute’s Route to Food Report cites that the national food poverty headcount in Kenya is an estimated 36 per cent (about 17.3 million people) for rural households and about 29 per cent (13.9 million people) for urban households, out of a total national population of 47.6 million.
Taking into account food affordability, availability, quality and safety, the
2019 Global Food Security Index gave Kenya a score of 50.7/100 (where 100 is the best) on food security, and an overall rank of 86/113 countries. In-keeping with these disappointing statistics, the
World Food Programme states, “Food insecure families typically live in rural areas, are poor and depend on daily agricultural labour for income.”
The importance of mitigating the effects of climate change on the agriculture sector for rural, impoverished Kenyans cannot be over emphasised. Climate-induced droughts and flooding significantly harm farmers’ crop growth and production. Statistically, flooding has displaced about
30,000 individuals and killed over 26,000 livestock throughout Kenya in 2019.
Food and income insecurity is further perpetuated when rain-fed farming systems, a common farming technique amongst poor, water-scarce communities, are
no longer sustainable due to precarious rain and weather patterns; about 98 per cent of Kenya’s agricultural systems are rain-fed. One of the first demographics to feel the
economic burden of climate change are those who earn their daily bread from farming; a decrease in agricultural outputs only pushes farming communities deeper into poverty.
Ideally, famers require a number of tools and resources to support their pre and post farming activities. For example, affordable, user-friendly technologies that help sustainably increase food yields; access to low-cost credit and financial services; links to digital platforms and markets where they can sell their produce; training on mechanisation and best practices in farming; access to, and understanding of, data and online platforms to strategically decide what crops are in market demand; the ability to assess financial risk and climate-smart policies.
Agri-tech could be a breakthrough solution for supporting Africa’s rapidly increasing need for excess food production and improving farmers’ livelihoods in the face of climate change.
Agri-tech may be broadly defined as the use of
artificial intelligence and technology to increase production, efficiency and ultimately revenue in sectors like agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture.
Simeon Ehui, regional director for Sustainable Development for Africa at the World Bank, says that technology-led food production systems are an up and coming area in which multilateral lenders are willing to invest capital and expertise.
Technology is expensive, however,
Kenya harbors 25 per cent of agri-tech start-ups in sub-Saharan Africa; these start-ups have the potential to harness affordable, innovative solutions that will help farmers utilise contemporary technology to organise and manage farming activities and bolster agricultural productivity, while also providing farmers with the opportunity to partake in global agricultural value chains. Providing access to affordable solutions driven by technology can help farmers connect to the marketplace and consequently stimulate revenue flow.
Farmshine is a Kenyan market-based agri-tech start-up that provides a mobile platform to help improve the agricultural value chain. To use Farmshine farmers must have access to a cellular phone that can support the Farmshine mobile app. Grounded in a ‘farmer-first’ mission, the app provides on-the-ground support from technical field agents on climate-smart techniques to minimise costs and maximise harvests so farmers can go on to sell their produce to legitimate buyers and large commodity companies at a fair price.
From signing a contract agreement, production management and crop aggregation, to delivery and payment,
every activity is carried out on the app with full transparency on both the buyer and seller’s side. Ultimately, Farmshine eliminates the middleman and directly provides farmers with the information and access they require to access high-value crop markets and end buyers, while improving fin-tech literacy and agronomic practices amongst [especially rural] farmers.
As a signatory to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Kenya has vowed to work diligently with public, private and civil society partners to achieve all the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2, zero hunger, and SDG 13, climate action. The SDGs complement the Kenya Constitution 2010, which in
Article 43 guarantees every Kenyan the right to be free from hunger and access to adequate food regardless of their socio-economic background.
The SDGs further align with the values and economic objectives in
Kenya Vision 2030, a national development blueprint designed within context of the 2010 Constitution and international policy frameworks to strategically help the country reach its goal of becoming a middle-income nation by 2030.
Implementing climate-smart agri-tech in farming systems will not only link farmers to global high value crop markets and increase their income, but will also combat the miserable consequences of droughts, flooding and irregular climate patterns that compromise agricultural productivity. Additionally, agri-tech can help stimulate the Kenyan economy, bridge the food deficit gap and align Kenya with international and political development goals to come one step closer to achieving food security for all Kenyans.
Ashnar Dholakia is an EAI research assistant conducting research on water, sanitation, and hygiene within the context of urban informal settlements.