President William Ruto has challenged the Private Sector to complement government programmes so as to stimulate sustainable agricultural production.
Speaking in Senegal on Wednesday during the Dakar 2 Feed Africa Summit, Ruto said Public Private Partnerships are the future of sustainable food production in the continent.
"There exist massive opportunities for public-private partnerships to undertake large agricultural projects in Kenya owing to the declining food production at a time demand is rising.
"These opportunities include investments in farm input supply, irrigation and the actual production," Ruto said.
He challenged other African countries to ape the strategy Kenya has adopted towards realising food security through value addition, technology adoption and mechanisation.
Ruto said due to value addition, the returns in the tea sector have been tenfold.
"The greater the participation of technology, the better the returns for our agricultural sector. What is Kenya doing? We are expanding our fertiliser input. This year we have 600,000 metric tonnes made available to farmers," Ruto said during the panel discussion.
"There is no magic, there is no miracle. If you have sufficient fertiliser in the correct quantity, in the correct prescription, you get the outcome," Ruto said.
In his parting shot, Ruto said:
"The fact that we are discussing food so many of us as Heads of State is not an interesting thing to do. Sixty years after independence, we should be discussing how agriculture is not just going to feed but create jobs."
During the Summit, the African Development Bank pledged to invest Sh1.2 trillion in food production in Africa in the next five years.
