Crop theft undermines Kenya's agricultural investments

Tomatoes in a green house. [File, Standard]

The agricultural sector is the backbone of Kenya’s economy and is one of the surest solutions to the increasing levels of unemployment, alleviating poverty, and improving food security. The sector contributes nearly 33 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs over 40 per cent of Kenya’s total population, with 70 per cent of the population living in rural and peri-urban areas.

Agriculture has been identified as one of the central sectors crucial in Kenya’s journey to becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 in line with Vision 2030 and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By the 2003 African Union Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, each country is obligated to support the sector’s growth by annually allocating at least 10 per cent of their national budgetary resources to agriculture and rural development. This underscores agriculture’s centrality in Kenya’s growth and development agenda and hence the need for both levels of government to protect it as a strategic economic pillar through favourable and progressive policies.

The policies should not only attract new players but also encourage the existing ones to continuously increase their level of investment and venture into value-added services.

As a matter of urgency, and as one way of creating a robust agricultural sector that encourages value addition, there is a need for the government to establish and enforce sound and predictable policies in terms of land ownership on matters such as land tenure and leases to enable investors to make informed decisions on their levels of investments.

Under the devolved system, the national and county governments are supposed to collaborate and facilitate innovations, modernisation, increased productivity and ensure sustainability of the agricultural sector. This should be achieved through the implementation of investor-friendly policies such as the seamless provision of security and safety for investments in the agricultural sector.

To boost investor confidence, the government should ensure the provision of adequate security in areas with significant agricultural investments and ensure maximum protection of assets, personnel, and raw materials to guarantee uninterrupted production and supply chain processes. One of the emerging concerns that the government must address urgently is the rising incidences of crop theft witnessed in different parts of the country affecting both large-scale and smallholder farmers.

A recent study, undertaken in February this year by a UK-based agricultural-focused think-tank, VoxDev, on agricultural investments in developing nations established that crop theft, although a less studied subject, was a major concern and that investors in Kenya are constantly battling with, and in which they have been forced to dedicate massive resources to minimise. The report, titled 'Farm security and agricultural development', noted that “new evidence from Kenya reveals the different ways that theft, and the fear of theft, constrain agricultural development.”

In recent times, several farmers and agricultural investors in different parts of Kenya have incurred huge losses because of the massive theft of their crops. This negative trend calls for increased and enhanced police protection of investors in the agricultural sector.

Indeed, a recent study by scholars at Moi University, Eldoret, confirmed that thefts of farm property and produce are fast emerging as a major hindrance to agricultural development in Kenya with over 90 per cent of farmers being victims of farm theft. The study pointed out that the vice was tainting Kenya’s agricultural sector and discouraging more investments. Unfortunately, the study concluded that the thefts are not correctly captured and recorded by police to depict the true state of the country for appropriate interventions.

Del Monte Kenya, which exclusively grows and processes pineapple products for both domestic and international markets, for instance, has suffered and continues to suffer massive crop thefts leading to huge losses. To mitigate the negative trend and to protect its investments, the company has diverted a significant part of its resources to engage the services of private guards.

However, the security and safety of investments and property is one of the guarantees that should be granted to investors in line with the Constitution, and as part of the government’s duty and obligation as a signatory to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which insures private investments against nonpolitical risks.

Consequently, police should offer adequate security to all sectors of the economy including agricultural farms and investments. Some of these farms are major employers and key foreign exchange earners and ought to be provided with adequate security by the State to supplement the services offered by their private guards.

State-backed security is a critical component for investors in the agricultural space, be they smallholder or large-scale, to guarantee a stable, predictable, and conducive environment for the sector’s contribution to the country’s growth and development objectives. Investors need assurance that their investments are protected from risks such as theft, vandalism, and property destruction. Government security apparatus, including law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies, play a critical role in safeguarding agricultural assets, infrastructure, and operations.