Industry Analysis

The Agriculture Rural and Urban Development (ARUD) Sector comprises of five (5) subsectors namely: State Department for Agriculture; State Department for Livestock; State Department for Fisheries and the Blue Economy; Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning (MoLPP) and the National Land Commission (NLC). 

The sector has twenty eight (28) semiautonomous government agencies (SAGAs) and nine (9) training institutions. The sector is among the key sectors that are critical in delivering the 10 percent economic growth rate under the Vision 2030. It contributes to economic and social development of the country through enhancing food security; income generation; employment and wealth creation; foreign exchange earnings as well as security of land tenure and public land management. 

The sector also contributes significantly to socio-economic growth and development through forward and backward linkages with other priority sectors of the economy. The Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Blue Economy sub-sectors directly contributed about 31.3 percent of the GDP valued at Ksh. 2.209 trillion in 2016 (Economic Survey, 2017). On average, the sub-sectors contribute approximately 27 percent to GDP through linkages with manufacturing, distribution and other service related sectors. Land as a factor of production is critical to economic, social, political and cultural development. Secure access to land, sustainable land use planning and equitable distribution of land remain immensely important for food security, employment creation and the socioeconomic development of the country. 

In view of the foregoing, the National Land Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning in partnership with key stakeholders are implementing policies and enforcing legal frameworks governing the land resource. The sector has research and training institutions that play critical roles in research and capacity building; dissemination of technologies, information and knowledge management that are aimed at increasing productivity, competitiveness and guiding decision making in the sector. It also has a number of SAGAs that contribute to national development through carrying out regulatory, commercial, service and training functions. 

The sector has established appropriate structures to enhance coordination of service delivery by the two tiers of government. These include; the Joint Agricultural Sector Consultation and Cooperation Mechanism (JASCCM) that comprises of four institutional structures namely; Joint Agriculture Steering Committee (JASSCOM), Agriculture Intergovernmental Forum (IGF), Joint Agricultural Sector-Intergovernmental Secretariat (JAS-IGS) and the Joint Agriculture Sector Technical Working Groups (JAS-TWGs). The sector has further established decentralized units of the National Land Commission at the county level. 

The decentralized units are involved in public land administration and management; dissemination of information; and resolution of land disputes and conflicts. In addition, the sector continues to undertake capacity building and technical assistance to the counties as provided for in the Constitution. The ARUD sector is faced with various challenges such as inadequate funding and delays in exchequer releases; competing land use; low uptake of technology; inadequate technical staff; inadequate markets and infrastructure; limited access to financial services; delays in enactment of Bills; plant and livestock diseases, impacts of climate change, degradation of the environment, limited value addition, high production costs, and inadequate strategies for implementation of policies and enforcement of legislations.