As Kenya pushes to reframe agriculture as a driver of inclusive growth, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) says it is deepening its partnership with government to ensure smallholder farmers sit at the centre of the country’s economic transformation.
Under its current five-year strategy, AGRA is investing $29 million (about Sh3.8 billion) in Kenya, aligning new investments with the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and county-level priorities.
The focus is deliberately practical: restoring depleted soils, unlocking access to markets and finance, and strengthening the support systems that farmers rely on season after season.
“Kenya can turn small farms into thriving businesses if we fix soils, markets and finance together,” AGRA President Alice Ruhweza said during a high-level panel at the Intergovernmental Forum for Agriculture (IGFA) 2025 in Naivasha.
For AGRA, delivery on the ground is the true test of partnership. Ruhweza pointed to a growing network of 506 Village-Based Advisors — 60 per cent of them women — who provide hands-on guidance to farmers in their communities.
“These are trusted local advisors who walk with farmers, field by field, season by season,” she said.
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Nairobi, AGRA is an African-led organisation working with governments, the private sector and farmer organisations to transform agriculture.
Its approach in Kenya is deliberately embedded within public systems, rather than running parallel structures.
That philosophy was formalised in 2024, when AGRA and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate investments at both national and county levels.
The agreement supports implementation of key policies spanning fertiliser access, soil health, extension services and seed systems.
At the heart of AGRA’s work is a renewed emphasis on soil fertility — what the organisation describes as the “hidden engine” of Kenya’s food security and competitiveness.
Across many of the country’s most productive regions, soils have become increasingly acidic and depleted, blunting the impact of subsidised fertiliser and other inputs.
Ruhweza said AGRA supported Kenya to host the 2024 Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit and is now helping counties domesticate the resulting Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Action Plan.
The goal is to ensure that soil restoration moves from policy commitments to tangible change on farms.
AGRA’s Kenya acting country director Davis Muthini underscored the importance of coordinated action across the agricultural ecosystem.
“Partnerships with government and other actors are essential if we are to address today’s challenges in agriculture,” he said.
“By improving yields for smallholder farmers and linking them to structured markets, we can strengthen livelihoods and directly contribute to national food security.”
Reducing post-harvest losses is another priority area.
In some crops, up to a third of production is lost after harvest, eroding incomes and driving food waste.
With support from the Green Climate Fund, AGRA is channelling around $7 million (nearly Sh900 million) into climate-smart post-harvest solutions.
The funding backs businesses providing technologies such as dryers, shellers, hermetic storage and warehouse receipt systems, allowing farmers to store produce safely and sell when prices are favourable.
In Makueni county, improved storage for pulses and fruit has already enabled farmers to cut spoilage, negotiate better prices and plan for school fees and farm investments — rather than selling in distress.
Access to finance remains a persistent constraint.
Despite agriculture’s central role in Kenya’s economy, the sector receives only about five per cent of formal bank lending, leaving many farmers dependent on informal and often costly credit.
Through partnerships with the National Treasury and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), AGRA is supporting banks, Saccos and microfinance institutions to design financial products tailored to farmers and agribusinesses.
Youth employment is a key consideration, as policymakers seek to make agriculture more attractive to the next generation.
Looking ahead, AGRA has set out clear priorities for the next three to five years.
The organisation aims to support at least 2.5 million farmers to adopt climate-smart practices — including improved seed, balanced fertiliser use and resilient agronomy — while enabling at least 2 million farmers to access post-harvest solutions that reduce losses and raise incomes, particularly for women and young people.
It also plans to strengthen structured markets for at least 100,000 farmers and improve the extension worker-to-farmer ratio by blending frontline advisory services with digital tools.
For AGRA and its partners, the ambition is straightforward but demanding: to ensure that national policy reforms translate into measurable gains for farmers, and that smallholder agriculture becomes a viable, dignified and profitable livelihood at the heart of Kenya’s economic transformation.
by GILBERT KOECH
