Why Kenya must rethink how food systems are delivered

Kenya recently convened a national workshop that could guide the future of how agricultural policy is implemented. [File, Standard]

As Kenya transitions into the Kampala Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) era, the real challenge is who shapes decisions, controls delivery, and is held accountable for results.

Kenya recently convened a national workshop that could guide the future of how agricultural policy is implemented. Bringing together government representatives, farmer organisations, civil society, private sector actors, researchers, and regional partners, the workshop organised by the CAADP Non-State Actors Group, CARE Kenya, and GIZ, set out to address a persistent gap in agricultural transformation, how to move from fragmented stakeholder engagement to coordinated, accountable action. 

Anchored in the transition from the Malabo Declaration to the Kampala CAADP Strategy (2026–2035), the workshop was designed not as a dialogue forum, but as a working platform. Its objectives were; to strengthen the coordination and legitimacy of non-state actors, deepen their capacity to engage in policy and budget processes, and co-create a practical advocacy roadmap aligned with Kenya’s agricultural investment frameworks.

As CARE Kenya Country Director Gertrude Misango emphasised, this moment requires alignment in action and a collective approach that translates continental commitments into Kenyan realities through a shared roadmap for implementation.

The workshop posed a more fundamental question: What would it take to shift from “non-state actors and government” operating in parallel, to “non-state actors with government” co-owning delivery of agrifood system transformation?

The assessment presented during the workshop found that while civil society organisations form the largest share of the mapped ecosystem across the six-country study, farmer organisations remain critical for grassroots representation, and research institutions provide evidence in support.

It also found that women-led and youth-led organisations remain underrepresented, private sector and media actors are still a smaller share of the space, and coalition effectiveness is uneven and often donor-driven rather than institutionally anchored.

The workshop discussions were candid. Participants named donor dependency, duplication, gatekeeping, weak inclusivity, and poor accountability as systemic constraints. They also acknowledged that the same familiar faces often dominate CAADP processes, limiting legitimacy and shrinking the pipeline for youth, women, producer groups, local private sector actors, and grassroots formations.

One workshop speaker captured the dilemma plainly: “When we are not coordinated, our impact is small; coordination unlocks scale.”

As Kibagendi Osero, Member of Parliament and member of National Assembly Agriculture Committee noted, Kenya has already made important progress through national policy frameworks. The task now is to ensure those frameworks translate into coordinated implementation that delivers results on the ground.

This is where Kenya’s current policy moment becomes especially important. Workshop materials referred to Kenya’s NASIP (2025–2029) as a framework for transforming food systems and driving economic growth, with a call for national government to integrate it into the budget cycle, county governments to embed it in county planning, the private sector to engage through PPPs and blended finance, and citizens and farmers to participate actively.

Public Ministry reporting also confirms that Kenya launched a review of its National Agricultural Investment Plan in December 2024 to align it with national, regional and global priorities.

“That opportunity will be wasted if the financing conversation remains thin. Kenya’s 2026 Budget Policy Statement projects national government funding for the Agriculture, Rural and Urban Development sector at Sh97 billion in 2026-27 financial year, against a total projected national budget of Sh4.7375 trillion. That is roughly two per cent of the total national budget although agriculture is also a devolved function and counties carry part of the spending load,” noted Osero.

He added that if agrifood systems transformation is genuinely central to jobs, resilience and food security, then public financing, data transparency and expenditure scrutiny must become central to CAADP accountability.