IGAD moots food security programme

More than 70 per cent of small-scale farmers across Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member States, including Kenya, are expected to benefit from a new food security programme. 

Speaking during the opening of IGAD’s fertiliser and soil health hub implementation plan, experts expressed concerns over emerging challenges, including low farm-level productivity that limits the availability of tradable surpluses that the region faces.

Secretary of Administration in the State Department for Agriculture Rashid Khator said the soil health hub seeks to address this through soil monitoring treatment, ensuring that the health status of the soil is organically maintained to promote sustainability 

“The low productivity is attributed to the high cost and limited availability of improved inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, and crop protection chemicals, lack of extension support, poor on-farm storage infrastructure and technology uptake; limited access to financing; and the negative effects of climate change, among other factors,” he said.

He urged stakeholders to collaborate in transforming the sector, which is the backbone of the region’s economy, locally contributing between 25 per cent to 42 per cent of the national gross domestic product and employing more than 70 per cent of the workforce.

According to the Coordinator IGAG Food Systems Resilience Programme Dr Senait Regassa, the initiative is designed to implement various aspects that deal with agricultural productivity, sustainable natural resources management and market and trade issues.

Dr Regassa noted that the conference is a follow-up to a declaration by the African Union Summit on fertiliser and soil health, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya, last year in May.

“The end goal of this initiative is to improve how we manage our soils so that we have enough food for everyone. Also, by managing our soils sustainably, we will be able to adapt to the changing climate and climate variability that the region is facing,” said Regassa.

Policy and food security expert Dr Sylvia Henga said the programme also seeks to leverage digital technology to improve farm productivity.

“We will be leveraging digital infrastructures like programming and forecasting, even as we look at the soil system, so that this information we are using for programming and forecasting can predict the future. The availability of phosphorus and nitrogen is important for productivity, especially for our leafy crops,” she said.