Kenyan Farmers Call for National Emergency Declaration

High Cost of Farm Inputs

The Kenya National Farmers' Federation (KENAFF) Elgeyo Marakwet County Branch reaffirms the critical role Kenyan farmers play in our country's economy.

Our members are always ready to work with the government to fulfill any proud nation's most important obligation: sustainable food and nutrition security for citizens.

Indeed, KENAFF is pleased that Food and Nutrition Security is one of the Pillars of the Government's Big Four Agenda, 2018—2022.

KENAFF is happy with the many strides the government has made over the past 5 years in reshaping the agricultural sector for higher production and productivity.

This is critical as Kenya gears up to become a middle-income country affording all her citizens a high quality of life as envisaged in Kenya Vision 2030.

Let me, particularly, thank the County Government of Elgeyo Marakwet for the important investments made in catalyzing agricultural transformation and development in Elgeyo Marakwet County. Our members are in full support of this agenda.

Call for a One-Off National Fund

1. Unfortunately, KENAFF is gravely concerned with the sky-high cost of farm inputs; in particular fertilizer and seed during this crucial planting season.
2. The prices of a wide range of farm inputs have jumped by between 200% and 300%; making them unreachable by the majority of farmers.
3. This is particularly disturbing as it means Kenya could be staring at a hunger crisis in the next one year as farmers make do without these important inputs and/or reduce the acreage of land under farm.
4. Consequently, KENAFF calls upon the National Government to declare the unprecedented price increases a national emergency and set aside a one-off fund to subsidize prices and/or offer direct liquidity support to farmers.
5. Failure to act shall not only constitute a drag on the government's food and nutrition security imperatives as envisaged in the Big Four Agenda: the Economic and Social pillar of the Vision 2030, the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategies (ASTGS), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Goal 1 (No Poverty) and 2 (Zero Hunger).
6. KENAFF is working with all her members and farmers in general to make them understand that the price hikes are as a result of global forces (particularly the ongoing war in Europe; including Russia and Ukraine, from where most of the fertilizer and other inputs are imported) that the Government of Kenya has no control over.
7. Be that as it may, the county and national governments have a moral as well as constitutional obligation to ensure that all Kenyans are well-fed and nourished and that hunger and malnutrition have no place in our proud country.
8. For now, the only way to ensure this is to have the farmers' back as farmers have always carried the economy of our country on their backs.
9. Finally, KENAFF is working with her members across all the 47 counties in Kenya to put in place a strategy for the bulk procurement of all farm inputs beginning November, 2022.
10. KENAFF is committed to developing a national architecture through which all our members shall receive high quality and fairly priced inputs in a timely fashion as well as through a farmer-friendly framework. Indeed, KENAFF counts on the support of the national and country governments to make this a reality.