- The petition seeks to have the National Assembly pass legislation that will enable the agricultural sector to benefit from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to develop irrigation infrastructure in all parts of Kenya.
- The Committee is required to consider the Petition and report its findings to the House and the Petitioner in accordance with Standing Order 227(2).
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Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) Petition before parliament has got a major boost after Members of Parliament hailed it as a game changer in the agricultural sector in the country.
The petition seeks to have the National Assembly pass legislation that will enable the agricultural sector to benefit from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to develop irrigation infrastructure in all parts of Kenya.
The organisation also wants the Irrigation Act (No. 14 of 2019), the Kenya Roads Board Act (No. 7 of 1999), the Road Maintenance Levy Fund Act (No. 9 of 1993) and all other relevant laws to be amended.
“Honourable Members, having established that the matter raised in the Petition is well within the authority of this House, and further that the matters raised in the Petition are not pending before any court of law, constitutional or legal body, I hereby commit the Petition to the Public Petitions Committee for consideration pursuant to Standing Order 208A,” National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula said in an order paper read by Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei.
The Committee is required to consider the Petition and report its findings to the House and the Petitioner in accordance with Standing Order 227(2).
Rising in support of the Petition, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi said the Petition was long overdue and should be expedited so that farmers could benefit from it.
“I wish to support this Petition and I want to agree with them that the Petition they are advocating for is timely. In fact, it is long overdue if I may say so," Wandayi said.
“This is because we need a legal framework that organisations like SHOFCO can operate freely to help our people.”
The Minority Leader also lauded SHOFCO’s programs in the informal settlements, saying they have alleviated poverty in a big way.
“SHOFCO is an organisation that is well known, especially in slum areas and other rural settlements where the poor inhabitants," he said.
“SHOFCO has done tremendous work in terms of alleviating poverty from those who are not well endowed."
At the same time, Wandayi confirmed that the organisation presented recommendations during the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) formed to deliberate key issues of interest to Kenyans and come up with a report.
“SHOFCO is one of the organisations that came before us at National Dialogue Committee with very progressive recommendations. In this part of the world, governments cannot do everything and, therefore, we must encourage and support private entities like SHOFCO to help our people,” he added.
On his part, Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe supported the petition saying it was timely and recommended proposals to it.
“The Petition is timely and I want to support it with some amendments. As the Committee looks into it, I want it to consider raising the money not only from the Roads Board alone but also from elsewhere because we must support irrigation agriculture across the country," Wangwe said.
“We must also find a way for urban dwellers to benefit from it.”
Shofco said the petition if adopted, will boost the agricultural sector in Kenya and address the problems of poverty, hunger, and unemployment in the country.
The organisation also argued that the petition is in line with the Kenya Kwanza manifesto which has committed to inject Sh250 billion into the agricultural sector in the next five years.
“The Kenya Kwanza manifesto notes that two-thirds of Kenya’s land requires irrigation but only 4% is actually irrigated. To address this, the Kenya Kwanza Manifesto proposes ‘Shifting focus from large dams to household/community water projects, with emphasis on harvesting and recycling.’ This is what this petition aims at achieving,” Shofco said.
According to the Kenya Economic Survey of 2022 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the agricultural sector contributed 22.4% to Kenya’s GDP and is the largest sector in the country.
Shofco has been supporting farmers in Rift Valley, Western Kenya, Nyanza and Coast regions.
In March 2023, over 50,000 farmers in Trans Nzoia, Siaya, Kisumu and Nyeri counties benefitted from the organisation’s certified maize seeds worth over Ksh 50 million.
Shofco Founder Dr. Kennedy Odede said his organisation researched to find the best-performing maize seeds that could take a short time to mature.
“Through research, we were able to get seeds that could mature within three months and do well in the areas we distributed them.
“The initiative is meant to support farmers and help them utilise their pieces of land to fight poverty and reduce the rural-urban migration that results in mushrooming of slums,” Dr. Odede said.
In 2022, more than 100,000 smallholder farmers in Kakamega, Vihiga, Busia, Bungoma, Siaya, Nandi, Uasin Gishu and Kilifi counties benefitted from the seeds donation worth Ksh 83 million from Shofco.
The organisation has also been advocating for smart farming and is piloting it in Kilifi County on a 10-acre piece of land.