The Conference 2017 Participants
The Institute held a successful two-day biennial policy conference under the theme “Transforming Agriculture for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Livelihoods”, to share its research findings and facilitate dialogue among stakeholders on the way forward for transforming agriculture.
Conference research findings and discussions revolved around the thematic areas of productivity and input use, sustainable livelihoods and inclusivity in agriculture, consumption and welfare as well as how we can harness technology for sustainable agriculture transformation.
Deliberations were made to seek for strategies that will continue to move the agricultural sector and the nation at large forward. The agricultural sector plays a key role in Kenya’s food security and overall economic growth. The sector is a key driver of the economic pillar of the Kenya Vision 2030, contributing about a third of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Despite this critical role, the sector continues to face many challenges that include low agricultural productivity, unsustainable production systems, low input use, high input costs and climate variability and change.
In a devolved system, and to continue playing its critical role in the economy, agriculture must be transformed to cope with the changing production, marketing and policy environments, and hence ensure broad, inclusive and sustainable growth. In addition, stakeholders need to consider agriculture’s contribution to food and nutrition security in a holistic manner.
The Conference participants were drawn from the public sector, private sector organizations, civil society, development agencies, universities, and research institutes, among others.
