The National Treasury has allocated Sh84.9 billion to the agriculture sector for the 2024/2025 financial year.
Timothy Njagi, a senior researcher at Tegemeo Institute, noted that this represents a decline of 0.2 per cent from the previous year's allocation of Sh87 billion, which was 2.3 per cent of the overall budget.
"The National Treasury has allocated Sh84.9 billion this financial year, which is Sh3 billion less than the last allocation. This accounts for 2.1 per cent of the overall budget of Sh4 trillion," Njagi said.
Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u said the government will continue focusing on agricultural transformation and inclusive growth through a value chain approach.
This approach aims to provide adequate and affordable working capital to all farmers through cooperative societies and to deploy modern agricultural risk management instruments to ensure farming is profitable and income is predictable.
In the 2024/25 budget, Sh54.6 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Key allocations in this budget include Sh10 billion for fertiliser subsidy programme, Sh647 million for small scale irrigation and value addition projects. Sh2.5 billion has been allocated to the Emergency Locusts Response, and Sh2.4 billion will go towards enabling youth and women in agriculture.
Treasury has allocated Sh6.1 billion for the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project, while the Food Security and Crop Diversification Project received Sh642 million.
Sh12.3 billion will go towards livestock resources management and development. Sh300 million will be utilised in the development of the Leather Industrial Park-Kenanie, while Sh1 billion will be used for the MSMEs agricultural credit.
The blue economy priority projects received Sh11.3 billion while Sh182 million was allocated to the National Drought Emergency Fund.
To settle the landless, the National Treasury has allocated Sh3.7 billion while Sh930 million will be used towards processing and registration of title deeds.
Sh585 million has been allocated to digitisation and construction of land registries.
Despite the allocations, farmers are calling for more subsidies on farm inputs to support them amidst challenges posed by climate change, price fluctuations and lack of financial credit.
Rebecca Mosomtai, a maize and dairy farmer from Mogotio, stressed that the government should not heavily tax farmers and should consider providing crop and livestock insurance to support those affected by drought.
"In 2022, farmers lost their livestock to drought, which left many poor," she said.
"Farmers should be compensated to sustain their livelihoods. It's frustrating when a farmer loses crops and animals to drought."
Bernard Chemjor, a dairy and horticulture farmer in Baringo county, emphasised that the government should invest more in agriculture as it is a significant source of food, income and employment.
He highlighted that providing land and resources to the youth could alleviate employment challenges.
"The farms belong to the older generation, but with available resources, the youth could lease land for agriculture," he said.
