The Kenya Livestock Producers Association (KLPA) has lauded President William Ruto’s decision to nominate Dr. Andrew Mwihia Karanja as the next Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development.
The association through its Chief Executive Officer Patrick Kimani says having perused Karanja’s resume and track record, they concluded that he was the right man for the job.
“We have noted that Dr. Karanja started his career at the junior rank of an extension officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and rose to the position of planning officer in the same ministry,” noted Kimani
“Dr. Karanja having worked his way up the ranks of the public service will be well equipped to seamlessly navigate around the bureaucracy and harness the expertise within the ministry,” the association boss added
Kimani pointed out that some Cabinet Secretaries have in the past found it hard to discharge their mandate in the ministry due to a lack of knowledge of how the public service operates.
KLPA cited his decorated career including notable engagements with institutions such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, USAID, and the European Union (EU), where the CS nominee has offered consultancy services, as one that proves he is suitable and capable of handling issues in the Ministry.
“Such development partners play a big role in supporting the growth of Agriculture and Livestock value chains in the Country. We hope that he will tap into the networks he has created over the years working for such partners for the benefit of our nation,” said KLPA Chief
The association noted that Dr. Karanja’s nomination comes at a critical point in the country’s history where young Kenyans are calling for reforms that will offer them greater opportunities to play a role in the nation’s development.
Kimani believes the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has the greatest potential, of all the Ministries, to create opportunities for the youth.
“Agriculture has been recognized as one of the five pillars of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). Agriculture is the foundation of civilization and any stable economy. If we get it right in Agriculture, everything else will follow suit,” he said
He added; “The sector has the potential to create over a million job opportunities across the various value chains from farm to fork. Kenya spends over 3 billion US dollar every year on food imports, majorly on products that we can produce locally. We are exporting jobs to other countries through importation of food produce that we can produce here. We have to change that trend,”
The association has, however, asked the CS nominee to address a number of things if he is given the mandate to spearhead the affairs of the ministry.
Top on the list, the livestock producers want Dr. Karanja to ensure access to quality affordable farm inputs. They lamented that smallholder farmers face the big challenge of accessing quality farm inputs at a price they can afford.
“The agricultural sector is awash with quacks who have filled in this gap and are selling sub-standard input to farmers. This is not only a threat to the Country’s food security but also severely affects the income of our farmers. The substandard inputs especially pesticides and veterinary medicines also lead to Anti-Microbial resistance which is a silent pandemic that is becoming a leading cause of death,” said the CEO
They are also calling for the provision of quality advisory services to help increase on-farm productivity and profitability.
“Governments need to set aside enough funds to recruit extension officers, agronomists, veterinary doctors, and para-veterinary professionals. These professionals will play a critical role in helping the farmers improve farm management practices through better agronomic practices, entrepreneurship development, and sharing information related to access to finance, access to inputs, and access to markets,” they argued
At the same time, the livestock producers challenged the CS nominee to make it possible for farmers to access to affordable credit. They said inadequate access to affordable and formal lines of credit by smallholder farmers is a teething problem that continues to affect farmers.
“Farmers in Kenya are left out of the financial products designed by banks, lending societies (SACCOS) or micro-finance institutions because they are deemed to be risky borrowers,” he said
according to Kimani, when farmers are unable to access affordable credit, they are unable to meet the cost of production and cannot ensure that the country is food secure. In the end, the association says consumers are faced with food shortages, leading to food importation and increase in food prices.
