Reforms needed in Agricultural Sector

It’s strange that no one seems to be talking about agriculture these days.. in a country of more than 40 million people, self sufficiency in basic food grains production is of paramount importance..else like oil, a country is left at the mercy of producers and speculative swings in prices and supply of food would not only impact economy but would also lead to instability. 

Kenyan farmers form the largest share of business people, but lack access to capital for fertilizer, seeds, and irrigation. Transportation and storage problems cause harvest rots, and land ownership often raises thorny issues about who belongs to a place and who does not i.e., election violence.

 In addition to generating wealth, private ownership of land can arrest deforestation, increase irrigation and water harvesting management. That means freehold land system even in rural Kenya instead of communal land tenure system, which is really state ownership of land. Furthermore, the government should encourage more large-scale farming especially in the arid areas - with the construction of the road networks.

Farmers suffer in the grip of state seed companies, and marketing organizations. If farmers gained direct access to world markets, it would necessitate consolidation of small farms to gain economies of scale. If the producers are able to auction their own cash crops, including coffee, tea, and sugar, rather than be forced to sell them to state-controlled marketing boards it would incentivize them to adopt modern farming practices. 

Farming sector needs new financial institutions that are independent of the political elite and can address the financial needs of both small farmers and other small- to medium-scale producers. Currently the agricultural financial institutions focus on small scale farmers due to the sheer demand but this limits learning of good practices from large scale farmers, and affords opportunity for corruption because the state secures the loans for farmers and constantly bails those financial institutions. The new financial institutions could be cooperatives, credit unions, and savings banks. In addition to providing financial services, these institutions could undertake all the other technical services that are not being provided at present by governments, such as crop research, extension services, livestock improvement, storage, transportation, distribution, and many other services that would make agriculture more productive. 

Kenya can be an agricultural exporter. - this would definitely lead to a reduction in agricultural employment. These people tend to be unskilled and cannot be employed in services.. so expansion of  manufacturing base (agro-processing for example) is necessary.. and that’s where reforms in labour laws would help.

The above reforms could bring into being a market economy to farming that answers to the needs of both producers and consumers.