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Treasury CS unveils Sh54.6 billion plan for agricultural transformation

Treasury CS Prof Njuguna Ndung'u at Treasury Building ahead of the 2024 Budget reading on June 13, 2024. (Photo: National Treasury)

By Terry Muriuki | Thursday, June 13, 2024

The CS highlighted the government's commitment to transforming Kenya's agricultural landscape, ensuring food security, and fostering inclusive economic growth.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u proposed an allocation of Sh54.6 billion for various programs under the agricultural sector when he delivered the 2024/25 budget statement in Parliament on Thursday.

Of the amount, Sh10 billion was allocated for the fertiliser subsidy program which aims to reduce the cost of fertilisers and make them accessible to all farmers, enhancing soil fertility and crop yields.

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Sh 6.1 billion will cater for the national agricultural value chain development project that is focused on improving the entire agricultural value chain from production to market access while Sh2.5 billion was set aside for emergency locust response.

To empower young people and women in the agricultural sector through financial support and training, the government allocated Sh2.4 billion for the youth and women in agriculture.

An additional Sh747 million was proposed for the small-scale irrigation and value-addition project to enhance irrigation systems to improve water efficiency and crop production and Sh642.5 million for promoting the cultivation of diverse crops to ensure food security.

In addition to these programs, the budget includes substantial investments in livestock production, with proposals such as Sh2.4 billion for supporting pastoral communities to improve livestock production and market access and an additional Sh1.5 billion for enhancing various stages of the livestock value chain.

Ndung'u said Sh1.5 billion had been allocated for the Kenya livestock commercialisation program which aims to commercialise livestock farming and an additional Sh192.5 million for improving livestock genetics and breeding practices.

To support the growth of the blue economy, Ndung’u proposed a total allocation of Sh11.3 billion for the blue economy and fisheries sub-sector.

He further proposed a Sh5.5 billion allocation to cater to ensure the legitimacy of land ownership and settle the landless. This allocation will cater to processing and registration of title deeds, settlement of the landless, digitisation of land registries and construction of land registries.

The CS highlighted the government's commitment to transforming Kenya's agricultural landscape, ensuring food security, and fostering inclusive economic growth.

He noted the government's new approach aims to provide adequate and affordable working capital to farmers through cooperative societies, known as Aggregators, and to deploy modern agricultural risk management instruments. This initiative is designed to ensure that farming remains profitable and that farmer incomes are predictable.