“Indeed, history has shown that there is a close relationship between investment levels in agriculture and food security. Kenya has negated on the Maputo Declaration where African governments committed to dedicate at least 20 per cent of national budgets on agriculture. Good progress had been made in the 1980s and early 1990s in reducing chronic hunger, largely due to increased investment in agriculture following the global food crisis of the early 1970s.

But in the past decade, as official development assistance devoted to agriculture declined substantially, the number of hungry people increased. Globally, FAO says 1.02 billion people are today going hungry, with Kenya having over 10 million such people. This has then been compounded by the government’s inability to prioritize service to support farmers. In Kenya, agricultural extension service to farmers is long ‘dead.’ Save for organisations like AGRA, farmers have been overlooked by donors and policymakers.

Malawi is a case worth emulating. From a net food importer to a net food exporter, Malawi has prioritized agriculture, targeting small scale producers with an elaborate system of input subsidies of at least 30 per cent.”…. etc