The development of the agricultural sector has long been one of the main objectives of the Kenyan Government. “Kenya Vision 2030”, the long-term economic development strategy adopted in 2008, promotes the transformation of subsistence agriculture into commercial agriculture as a key driver of income growth and increased food security.

Despite agriculture being one of the main contributors to the national GDP, public agricultural expenditure fell below the Maputo target, averaging only 7.6 percent of the national budget. Around 60 percent of agricultural expenditure was allocated towards agriculture-specific spending and the balance to agriculture-supportive activities, including mainly rural education, health and infrastructure. External resources constituted a fairly large proportion of development funds for the Ministry of Agriculture, averaging 65 percent for the period under review.

Government’s own-funded share of the budget have mainly been invested in agricultural research, in providing extension services to producers, and in improving the access to seeds and fertilizers through a subsidy system for smallholder farmers. The National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Programme (NAAIAP) and the Fertilizer Cost Reduction Initiative have been implemented with the aim of increasing the affordability of inputs and encouraging the local manufacturing of fertilizers. These initiatives have mainly targeted maize production. Overall, limited investment has been directed to the development of markets or construction of storage facilities.

Since 2006, price incentives for producers in Kenya have generally decreased across the major value chains (maize, tea and coffee). Indeed, several factors still constrain agricultural production, causing productivity levels of several crops to fall below their potential. Most important among these are the continued dependency on rain-fed agriculture, poor infrastructure, limited adoption of improved agricultural technologies, and significant profit shares captured by middlemen operating the various crops value chains.

Download the report: Analysis of public expenditure in support of food and agriculture in Kenya, 2006-2012.

For additional information on the indicators shown in the graphs and the terminology used, please refer to MAFAP’s Glossary on Public Expenditure and Methodological Guidelines - Volume II - Public Expenditure. For detailed information on the data provided, please go to the MAFAP database.