The County Government of Nakuru has initiated awareness programmes and partnerships aimed at encouraging adoption of technology and mechanised farming among smallholder farmers in a bid to improve the production and quality of their produce.

The devolved unit’s administration has announced that it was crafting public-private partnerships to encourage the setting up of mechanisation hubs which will also link providers of mechanised farm services with smallholder farmers who do not have agricultural machinery.

According to County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Veterinary Services and Cooperatives Mr Leonard Bor, the move is aimed at giving smallholder farmers opportunities to embrace better mechanised food production to increase yields in addition to making farming attractive to the younger generation.

“We envision a situation where smallholder farmers have access to subsidised mechanisation. This will help reduce overreliance on human labour, which is not economical. Farmers will enjoy increased yields in their farm produce,” stated Mr Bor.

The CECM noted that technological advancements have enabled the manufacture of light and cheaper machines that can help smallholder farmers revolutionise agriculture both in terms of quantity and quality of products grown and processed.

Mr Bor spoke when hosting the Mwea Mechanisation Platform that brought together Kirinyaga and Nakuru County staff, farmers, machinery operators and machinery owners for an exchange on agricultural mechanisation and sustainable farming.

At the event that was held in Nakuru, the CECM said the notion that mechanisation is only for those in large-scale farming was misguided and a threat to Kenya’s food security.

“The need to boost crop yields to feed Kenyans is becoming a priority. Technological advancements and innovations can help small-scale farmers improve productivity, thus making agriculture more profitable.

Governor Susan Kihika’s administration is seeking ways of enhancing food security through mechanised farming, irrigation and use of quality seeds and appropriate fertilisers,” he further said.

He noted that mechanised farming contributed to timely preparation of land, efficient land use and increased production. It also reduced the cost of production and created more employment opportunities, particularly among the youth.

The teams from both devolved units explored the use of mechanisation to improve farm productivity, sustainable agricultural practices and the digitisation of mechanisation services to make machinery more accessible to farmers.

Also present were Chief Officer for Agriculture Engineer Margaret Kinyanjui, Nakuru County technical staff, representatives of the Nakuru Potato Cooperative Union (NPCU), the Nakuru County Dairy Platform (NACODA) and Hello Tractor.

The CECM said there was a need for traders and dealers in agricultural machinery to equip smallholder farmers with technical know-how to operate and maintain the machinery through field days, workshops, farm visits and seminars to enable them to become commercially successful.

He stated that they were encouraging dealers and manufacturers of farm machinery to ensure that their products targeting small-scale farmers were built with simplicity of design, unsurpassed reliability, outstanding fuel economy and minimal maintenance requirements.

“We are encouraging dealers in farm equipment whose services should consist of genuine spare parts centres and nationwide mobile service coverage to set up shop in Nakuru. We are working with several institutions that will extend farmer financing to purchase modern equipment.

“Asset financing should be tailor-made to suit the abilities of both small holders and large-scale farmers. Since some new farmers lack experience with planters, tractors and implements, dealers are encouraged to put in place training as part of the package for new owners. “This should entail showing buyers how to maximise the use of their machinery to boost their food production by using mechanisation,” said Mr Bor.

The CECM observed that mechanisation farming improves harvesting of crops, lowers costs and reduces post-harvest losses by 20 per cent with fewer damaged crops compared to manual harvest.

He added that Kenyan farmers are still shying away from modernisation due to lack of capital.

According to the World Bank report on Agribusiness Indicators, the degree of mechanisation in Kenya is about three tractors per 1,000 hectares, or 26.9 tractors per 100 square kilometres.

The report indicates that despite the potential that mechanisation has in transforming agriculture by helping farmers to intensify their businesses, mechanisation levels remain very low in Kenya and across the continent.

In 2024, Africa Renewal reported that Africa had an average of about one to two tractors per square kilometre compared to developed countries, where India had 128 tractors while Brazil registered 116 tractors both per square kilometre.

The World Bank attributed the low level to the fact that mechanisation is capital intensive, requiring special financial products such as long-term capital, credits, or leasing arrangements, which is beyond smallholder farmers and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Nevertheless, where the smallholder farmers access mechanisation, they are required to go an extra mile to maximise the potential of the agricultural machines, which, if not maximised, compromises repayment plans and becomes a threat to the profitability of the machines,” the report said.

Mr Bor noted that the continent’s population is expected to double by 2050, meaning it will require enormous effort to feed the people.

He pointed out that it’s time the continent ditches the hoe in favour of modern technology, which will complete the same tasks far more efficiently, adding that youthful entrepreneurs can enter Kenya’s agricultural mechanisation sector and make a great business of it.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a UN specialised agency that champions efforts to defeat hunger, Africa overall has less than two tractors per 1,000 hectares of cropland. There are 10 tractors per 1,000 hectares in South Asia and Latin America.

Nakuru County Agriculture Chief Officer Engineer Kinyanjui stated that without mechanised agriculture, productivity suffers drastically, lowering farmers’ earnings.

“The County Government is implementing ways of food nutrition and security which include mechanised farming, irrigation, and use of quality seeds and appropriate fertilisers,” she said.

Engineer Kinyanjui noted that mechanised farming contributed to timely preparation of land, efficient land use and increased production. It also reduced the cost of production and created more employment opportunities, particularly among the youth.

She said smallholder farmers in the devolved unit were being equipped with technical know-how to operate and maintain the machinery through field days, workshops, farm visits and seminars to enable them to become commercially successful.

Engineer Kinyanjui noted that soil erosion and poor seed beds are common challenges witnessed in the county due to lack of skills in machine operation.

She further observed that small-scale dairy farmers should embrace mechanised technology in making their own animal feeds, translating to quality fodder, which will not only increase milk production but also beef, mutton and the quality of hides and skins.

Kenya’s low level of mechanisation is attributed to inadequate training, research and technology development, weak local manufacturing and distribution, insufficient agricultural mechanisation quality assurance, low-level investments in mechanisation services, poor extension and technology adoption, and a weak institutional and legal framework.

Amid these challenges, the country is in great need of agricultural mechanisation due to the decreasing availability of farm labour, lack of interest by the youth in farming activities, adverse climate change, and HIV and AIDS prevalence, a draft policy document notes.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest uptake of agricultural mechanisation in the world and is heavily dependent on manual labour. Several interventions have been made to address this to varying degrees of success.

Half a decade ago, many countries on the continent established public sector-operated machinery hire services to make it easy for smallholder farmers to get hold of these machines for optimal production.

Despite these efforts, farm power availability per area of agricultural land has declined or stagnated in many sub-Saharan African countries over the past decades, leading to increasing reliance on human muscle power, the Draft Agricultural Mechanisation Policy notes.

The number of tractors in the region declined from 235,000 in 1970 to 222,000 in 2000. Africa and the Middle East have only three per cent of the global market of agricultural machinery by geographical area.

Research shows that Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania had more tractors than India 40 years ago. However, by 2005, India had a hundred times more tractors in use than the three East African countries combined.

In 1965, Kenya established Tractor Hire Service (THS), whose broad objectives were to open new land for wheat production, introduce modern farming practices, stimulate and encourage private ownership of farm tractors and machinery, and train the farming community on the general techniques for good seedbed preparation.

THS and Plant Hire Service (PHS) joined in 1981 to create Agricultural Mechanisation Services (AMS), whose stations are now operated by the county governments, offering services such as dam construction and de-silting, construction of farm access roads and soil conservation structures to farmers.

They are also keen on opening up new land to agriculture through bush clearing, ripping, and levelling.

By 2012, 78 plants and 115 farm tractors were available in 24 AMS stations countrywide. The numbers have increased since.

The country also has an Agricultural Machinery Testing Unit, Agricultural Technology Development Centres, Farm Equipment Use in Small Holder Agriculture Project, and has had many programmes geared towards making it very agriculturally productive.

A 2016 survey showed that the level of agricultural mechanization varied across enterprises and operations along the value chains. Land preparation had the highest level across most enterprises, led by wheat at over 95 per cent.

Planting operation is only mechanized in a few crops such as maize at 56 per cent and wheat at 95 per cent.

by Jane Ngugi and Jefther Afuyo