NERNST KIRIKA KIMANI

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FEB 511
WHY THE MECHANIZATION ENDEVOUR HAS NOT BEEN A SMOOTH

ONE FOR KENYA

Introduction

Mechanization can be explained as the use of hand tools and animal drawn implements as well as

motorized equipment to reduce human effort, to perform certain farming operations that cannot be

accomplished by other means or within the time available and to improve the quality of others.

According to Mutua et al., 2014, records from the Kenya revenue authority (KRA), revealed that four-

wheel tractor (4WTs) sales in Kenya have risen slowly since 1961 when only 6,422 units were

operational. This rose to 12,844 units in 2002 which translates to one tractor to 195 hectare. Most 4WTs

operating in the country are in the large commercial farms, both in the public and private sectors,

including sugarcane, wheat/barley, tea and maize. Tractor ownership among small scale Kenyan farmers

stands at 5% and use of this machine is declining because of continuous land fragmentation (Bymolt and

Zaal, 2015).

This paper seeks to focus more on the journey of mechanization looking at how the youth, the industry

and devolution have impacted on mechanization endeavor in Kenya.

Youth

Agriculture is perceived to be an occupation that is practiced by the uneducated, poor, rural or old people,

(FAO, 2006). Njeru and Gichimu ( 2014), noted that most of the youth prefer white collar jobs despite the

vast number of unemployed youth. The youth in Kenya are characterized as the age between 18-35yrs

(KNBS 2019). Statistics are currently showing that 78.31% of Kenyans are below the age of 35yrs. It also

furthers states that 64% of the persons in Kenya are unemployed youth. Therefore, it can be concluded

from these statistics that the that the youth are among the poor. However even in the high unemployment

rate in the formal sector, there is high prevalence among the youth not to engage in the agricultural sector.

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This in itself has played a major roll in the journey of mechanization in Kenya since the people who are

involving themselves in agriculture are the old age bracket in the society whose levels of innovation and

inventions are quite low.

Migration theory by Harris and Todaro (1970) explained the theory of migration by Everett S. Lee (1966)

it explains the push and pull factor that makes the youth to move from the rural areas and migrate to

urban areas in search of opportunities, education and high paying jobs in the cities. This poses a challenge

in agriculture and eventually in agricultural mechanization since the population left in the rural area is an

old population and also a population which is not well educated in the emerging issues and it further

contributes to the slow adaptations of modern farming methods which includes mechanization.

Devolution

The promulgation of Kenya’s Constitution in 2010 enunciated a plethora of reforms key amongst them

being; devolution of various sectors including agriculture. Devolved framework for agriculture is

anchored in Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule, providing that the national government shall have exclusive

responsibility of agricultural policy formulation whilst the county government shall facilitate, implement

and oversee all other agricultural related matters including the implementation of national policies on

agriculture.

However, A study conducted by Muatha, Otieno, and Nyikal (2017) on determinants of smallholder

farmer’s awareness of agricultural extension devolution in Kenya revealed that farmer’s awareness of

devolution of agriculture services remains below average. This, as the researchers established, resulted in

low production as the farmers in Meru, where the study was conducted. From the study, it was evident

that farmers lacked knowledge of what or how they are to gain from a devolved ministry of agriculture, as

the change from National to County governance did not have much civic education.

It is with such reasons that the journey of agricultural mechanization has not been an easy ride in Kenya.

However right now devolution has made some several strides since its implementation in (2013). This is

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evident from the studies shown recently that the percentage of farmers having tractors or farmers using

tractors to plough their land has increase by a significant percentage. This is a very good step towards

fully mechanizing our operations in the farms.

Industry

With regards to the industry, in the resent past the government of Kenya had not been promoting local

manufactures and assemblers who are the key people in the journey to mechanization. The government

had placed very high taxes and made working environment to the local firms impossible to work. Because

of this it was very hard to come with an industry focusing on agricultural mechanization inputs. However,

in the resent past the goverment was waivered and offered incentives to those local industries, and car

dealers who engauge themselves in importation of tractors and farm related machinery. Due to this it has

been noted that there has been an increase in farmers who are using tractors and the level of

mechanization has increase compared to the past.

Mechanization has led to use of modern implements which requires regular servicing and repairs.

Industries are able to offer these services to farmers hence making mechanization sustainable. Industries

are now encouraging their specialists to innovate in agricultural sector which is a major to in agricultural

sector Though industrialization in Kenya have not been using most current technologies ,it is clear that a

good progress is been made to promote agricultural mechanization

References

Bymolt, R., & Zaal, F. (2015). Moving to Mechanization: Mechanization in Maize Farming

Systems in Kenya. Tanzania and Ethiopia

FAO (2006). Farm power and mechanization in sub-Saharan Africa. Sims, BG and Kienzle, J.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy. Agricultural and

Food Engineering Technical Report 3

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2018). Agricultural mechanization:

A key input for sub-Saharan Africa smallholders. Food & Agriculture Org.

Gichimu, B. M., & Njeru, L. K. (2014). Influence of access to land and finances on Kenyan

Youth Participation in Agriculture: A Review.

Muatha, I. T., Otieno, D. J., & Nyikal, R. A. (2017). Determinants of smallholder farmers

awareness of agricultural extension devolution in Kenya. African Journal of

Agricultural Research , 12(51), 3549-3555.

Mutua et. al. 2014. Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable

Intensification (Facasi Project- Kenya), 1–88

Silveira, J. J., Espíndola, A. L., & Penna, T. J. P. (2006). Agent-based model to rural–urban

migration analysis. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 364, 445-456.

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