The year 2018 was good for Kenya's food baskets but bad for farmers who earned less than they did in 2017.
High crop production didn't translate into more money for the people who toiled.
The Economic Survey 2019 attributed the decline in earnings in 2018 to lower prices for commodities compared to 2017.
National Treasury CS Henry Rotich said the accelerated growth in the agriculture sector from 1.9 per cent in 2017 to 6.4 per cent in 2018 was due to the good long rains.
He said the improved performance was due to favourable weather conditions for both crops and livestock production.
However, the Economic Survey 2019 released yesterday said that despite increased production volumes, earnings from major crops decreased.
Tea and coffee earnings decreased by 5.3 per cent and 7.5 per cent to Sh127.7 billion and Sh14.8 billion, respectively, in 2018.
Earnings from coffee declined from Sh16.0 billion in 2017 to Sh14.8 billion in 2018. They dropped despite the increase in the quantity of marketed coffee from 33,700 tonnes in 2017 to 36.800 tonnes in 2018.
"The earnings were lower compared to the previous period due to a reduction in the international prices of coffee,” the survey said.
But the production of tea, coffee and sugarcane increased by 12.1, 7.0 and 10.4 per cent, respectively, in 2018.
In addition, the quantity of marketed tea increased from 439,900 tonnes in 2017 to 493,000tonnes in 2018.
However, tea earnings decreased by 5.3 per cent to Sh 127.7 billion in 2018.
Earnings from sugar increased marginally from Sh20.1 billion in 2017 to Sh20.6 billion in 2018.
Over the same period, the price paid for maize declined by 43.3 per cent to Sh2,261 per 100kg.
But, maize production increased by 26 per cent from 35.4 million bags in 2017 to 44.6 million bags in 2018.
The price paid to farmers for milk declined by 9.4 per cent from Sh3,897 per 100 litres in 2017 to Sh3,530 per 100 litres in 2018.
It was a good year for wheat farmers as the price increased by 11.2 per cent from Sh3,197 per 100kg in 2017 to Sh3,555 per 100kg in 2018.
The survey further indicated that the value of marketed wheat more than doubled from Sh5.3 billion in 2017 to Sh11.7 billion in 2018 due to higher production and improved prices.
The price of pyrethrin extract nearly doubled to Sh25,000 over the same period.
The report pointed out that the value of marketed production has been increasing over the last four years, and increased further by 11.4 per cent to Sh 497.9 billion in 2018.
The share of crops to the marketed production rose from 69.7 per cent in 2017 to 70.5 per cent in 2018.
In addition, the value of horticulture exports increased by 33.3 per cent to Sh153.7 billion in 2018 on account of higher production and improved international prices.
Rotich said the government will continue to invest in irrigation to reduce dependency on rain-fed agriculture and increase the amount of land under cultivation.
“We will also collaborate with county governments to ensure that each county has at least one agricultural value-addition processing plant,” the CS said.
