Low levels of agriculture mechanization, which stands at a paltry 30 percent has contributed to food insecurity in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) \nDirector General (DG), Dr. Eliud Kireger said in Kenya the level of \nagricultural mechanization was very low especially in small scale \nfarming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the KALRO headquarters on Monday, during a conference on\n the Baseline of Agricultural mechanization in Africa, Dr. Kireger said\n that 80 percent of our farms are small and thus require unique and \ncreative equipment to mechanize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we talk of mechanization people think of big tractors but most\n farmers in Kenya operate one acre and below where you cannot use a \ntractor and this calls for appropriate mechanization for these sizes of \nland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DG added that through a project called Korea-Africa Food and \nAgricultural Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) they are working on a \nprogram on how to improve mechanization in Kenya by borrowing lessons \nfrom Korea, since their size of farms is more or less the same as in \nKenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have 18 African countries participating in this event and we are \nlucky as Kenya since we have a policy on mechanization, which many \ncountries don\u2019t have and we are hoping to hinge on that policy to guide \nus on mechanization of our faming system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He highlighted that the main impediment to mechanization in Kenya is \nthe cost of the machinery, inappropriateness of the machines that we \nhave, in that some are not serviceable due to lack of spare parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince the government removed the tax on some of the tractors we \nexpect that farmers will be able to pick it up and import the machines \nthat we use. Fabrication of the farm machines here in Kenya is very low \nand we believe some of these machines can be made locally at a cheaper \ncost,\u201d said Dr. Kireger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Kireger explained that the collaboration they have with Korea is \non research and ways in which the country can be able to fabricate \nmachines suited for the local small holder farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are encouraging farmers and youths to form Saccos and buy the \nequipment through the various funding mechanisms that are available and \nthey can be leasing the equipment to the farmers,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his part, Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute (AMRI) \nDirector, Dr. Noah Wawire said that in 2016 they established the status\n of mechanization on nine value chains, in local small and large scale \nfarmers and realized that the levels were very low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe highest mechanization we found was in wheat which was at around \n65 percent and coffee was the least mechanized at eight percent,\u201d \nexplained Dr. Wawire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Director highlighted that low levels of the mechanization means \nthat there is a lot of demand on human labour which is very expensive \nand they are hoping to improve the level of mechanization from 30 \npercent to at least 40 percent in the short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaize farming in Kenya is highly mechanized which we realized is \nnot efficient and we need more research to see how we can improve the \nutilization of those machines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\u00a0 the same time, the\u00a0 Korean Institute of Agricultural Sciences Senior Researcher, Dr. Young Choi said that they are working closely with Kenya in rice breeding project, agricultural mechanization, post-harvest genetic resources and next year they will launch a new project, which will include pest control and seed dissemination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Choi said that they are also focusing on capacity building and \none young Kenyan scientist will be visiting Korea to conduct some \nresearch cooperation project which will last for six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scientists opined that mechanization will help the country achieve one of the Big 4 agenda goals of food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n