- Agriculture Principle Secretary Paul Rono said climate change has been a challenge for farmers when it comes to production.
- Rono confirmed that during the long rains season, farmers lost close to 60,000 acres of crops which translates to around Sh800,000 million.
Image: AGATHA NGOTHO
Insurers have been urged to adapt their offerings to better address the impacts of climate change on agriculture.
Agriculture Principle Secretary Paul Rono said climate change has been a challenge for farmers when it comes to production.
“This is because sometimes we don't predict the weather condition and sometimes when there is a flood like during this years’ March-April-May long rain season, farmers were adversely affected,” he said.
The PS spoke on Wednesday during the launch of agricultural sub-sector policies.
The four policies that were launched include the Kenya Agricultural Sector Extension Policy(KASEP) 2023, National Agricultural Insurance Policy-2023, Phytosanitary Policy 2023, and the National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy 2024. The policies have been developed in partnership with the private sector, donor community and the county governments.
Rono confirmed that during the long rains season, farmers lost close to 60,000 acres of crops which translates to around Sh800,000 million.
“Policy formulation and the documentation with insurance firms on agriculture have not been comprehensive. There have been some gaps missing to an extent that it is not really responding to the current challenges the farmers are facing,” the PS said.
“Going forward, we want insurance policies to align with the current challenges and ensure that our farmers are able to get compensated and also mitigate any risk which can really come because of farming.”
Rono said the four critical policies will provide latitude to the sector in terms of implementation of different initiatives already highlighted in the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda.
The PS said farmers have been facing a lot of challenges when it comes to extension services and many times they have not been able to get enough skilled personnel to support them in their farming.
“We know that the county government is doing a lot but there is a need to really structure these extension services in such a way that we meet the required standard in terms of the number of farmers vis-à-vis the extension officer,” Rono said.
According to recommendations by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the ratio is one extension officer to 500 farmers (1:500). However, reports from the counties show that currently, the ratio stands at one extension officer to 1,000 to 1,200 farmers.
The PS said the phytosanitary policy is aimed at assisting farmers on matters related to pest and pest control. In addition to compliance to the international requirements when it comes to exports and imports of our produce.
“The policy on mechanisation has come at the right time because we have had challenges on adaptation of mechanisation in our agriculture. Once implemented, the policy will help to upscale our produce and also to encourage the young farmers to participate in farming,” he said.
The PS added that each of the policy documents has got a clear implementation framework, and that the ministry will put up a team to oversee the implementation.
“We will be constituting the various teams under the framework of implementation to start the work within the next one month. This will ensure we move with speed and then roll out the implementation programmes and the procedures so that Kenyans and farmers can benefit from these policies as early as possible,” Rono said.
“Some of the implementation requirements include laws and regulations, and we will engage our legislators to see how best they can facilitate some of those laws so that the policies get fully implemented,” he added.