Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi say the government has prioritized digitization of the agricultural sector in order to achieve food and nutrition security plans.

Speaking in Lusaka, Zambia during a benchmarking tour, Linturi promised full implementation of the ambitious Agriculture Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS), 2019 – 2029 as a key policy in the plans to make Kenya food secure.

According to the Agriculture CS, use of data and digital innovations is the main enabler for the envisaged transformation of Kenya’s agricultural sector.

CS Linturi said his ministry is currently studying the Zambia Agricultural Management Information System (ZAMIS) that has successfully helped the Southern Africa country to assist farmers through the e-voucher and Direct Input Supply modules.

The E-voucher for farmers’ model and fertilizer subsidy programs that were recently launched by the ministry are implemented through the Agricultural Management Information System.

“We are here for a knowledge exchange visit as we study the Zambian digitization model that helped the country gain experience and practical knowledge in establishing and institutionalizing an Integrated Agricultural Management Information System,” Linturi said.

Linturi hailed the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for helping Zambia to fully implement the digital programme that has been key to Zambia’s agriculture transformation.

“My ministry is in the process of fully implementing a similar system, dubbed the Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management information system (KIAMIS) with the aim of creating a database that will assist our farmers to access improved agricultural goods and services as we strive to achieve food security,” said the CS.  

He also promised that the KIAMIS initiative will be effective in reducing the cost of food production and also boost Kenya’s food and nutrition security.

“I am looking forward to seeing my ministry using KIAMIS platform to digitize these farmer support services and also to ensure collection and sharing of data and statistics to support decision and policy making.

FAO representative to Kenya, Ambassador Carla Mucavi, who was also part of the Kenyan delegation to Zambia expressed optimism that Kenya will replicate Zambia’s success in digitization of the agricultural sector to help in reforming the sector.

“Our mission in Zambia is to gain knowledge on how they implemented their digitization programme and we want to fully implement the same in Kenya through the KIAMIS platform to help our farmers improve on food production,” said Mucavi.

Linturi has previously cited the lack of a complete register of genuine farmers as the biggest challenge in the implementation of government subsidies and other farmers’ support programmes.

According to the latest Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development statistics, Kenya has a population of 600, 400,000 farmers but only 4,200,000 have been registered during the first phase of the KIAMIS pilot programme.

“We recently launched the KIAMIS Phase II that will enable us to establish a Farmers Credit Management scheme, food security data collection and data sharing, E-extension services, and expanded mechanization among others,” Linturi indicated.

Principal Secretary for the State Department of Crop Development Harsama Kello who was also part of the Kenyan delegation has welcomed the Kenya and Zambia agriculture development partnership.

“The Government of Kenya aims to succeed in the food and nutrition security plans. This goal calls for more sufficient strategic data and a robust functional digital platform to capture the impact of the challenges worsening the problem,” Kello added.

FAO representative in Zambia, Suze Percy Filippini also applauded Kenya’s move to partner with Zambia in knowledge exchange on food security plans adding that Zambia pioneered the Integrated Agricultural Management Information System.