State to launch digital agriculture solutions
The government is set to launch a number of key digital agriculture solutions to support farmers through-out the value chains and in their agricultural practices.
Planned for launch before end of the year are digital food balance sheet, Kenya integrated agricultural information system and big data centre.
Others are Kephis electronic certification system, National Farmers’ Information System (NAFIS) and AFA Integrated Management Information System (IMIS).
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said the move will help to strengthens Kenya's position as a leader in terms of digital for agriculture (D4Ag) solutions in the sub-Saharan Africa.
He said Kenya currently is home to more than 100 distinct D4Ag solutions accounting for 25 per cent of the region technologies in use in the region.
He, however, regretted that despite the abundance of D4Ag solutions in the country, many of them are still struggling to measure up and do not sufficiently add value to the end users – including farmers.
Munya made the disclosure when he launched agricultural digital strategic roadmap and the national value chain support e-voucher programme at Kisumu county,
The e-voucher programme being piloted in 12 counties is designed to tame cartels that have been manipulating distribution of farm inputs by the Government.
Out of the 100 distinct D4Ag solutions identified in Kenya, only a handful of them are run by the government, with most of them being driven by Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) which offers mainly advisory and information services to farmers.
Kalro has three e-agricultural platforms including the Kenya Agricultural Observation Platform website and 30 mobile applications covering 30 value chains.
These include Indigenous Kalro Chicken App, Kalro Mango Propagation and Kenya AgriObservatory Platform.
Kenya, Munya added is at the forefront of digital innovation and technological adoption in order to achieve the 10-year Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS).
Under the strategy, the government plans to create a vibrant, commercial and modern agricultural sector that supports 100 per cent food security in the context of devolution.
Munya said for most applications, fewer than 30 per cent of registered users are active.
“The government has an important role to play in this ecosystem, particularly for solutions that operate like public goods, by investing in middleware, for example, farmer registers –including of livestock and digital agronomy data and accelerating implementation of forward-looking data policies such as data privacy, drone commercialization,” he said.
He added: “This work focuses on digital interventions that government is well placed to champion and drive, not solutions that the private sector and other players can implement successfully themselves.”
Munya confirmed the ministry has developed a digital agriculture strategy that is anchored on seven priority digital use cases.
The cases seek to accelerate targeting and registration of eligible farmers for e-incentives such as the NVCSP e-Voucher Program.
The agriculture technology approach further seeks to provide customized extension services on various digital platforms – from receipt of a simple SMS to an interactive Mobile Application, monitor emergency food reserve stocks using a more robust national Food Balance Sheet.
By 2023 the ministry targets to register 1.4 million farming households, and 2,300 agro-dealers who will be engaged to supply the farm inputs.
The D4Ag space Munya noted is generally developing rapidly, with 60 per cent of these solutions having come online in the past three years.
However, the expansion of D4Ag has the potential to transform the sector and improve farmer production, income and livelihoods –from mobile service delivery that can reduce food losses by 2-5 per cent to big data for insurance that could increase farmer income by up to 2 per cent.
“Data and digital solutions play an important enabling role in this transformation and should support the sector to achieve its primary objectives -to increase small-scale farmer (SSF), pastoralist and fisher folk incomes for 3.3 million households and impact 15 million Kenyans.
And increase food available year round by unlocking 500,000 acres of agricultural production and agro-processing across priority value chains, boost household food resilience and reduce the number of food-insecure Kenyans to zero.
