In Nairobi this week, Kenya reaffirmed its commitment to transform agriculture from a subsistence livelihood into a competitive, innovation-driven enterprise capable of powering economic growth. The 5th National Agribusiness Summit, held under the theme “From Promise to Action: Advancing Agribusiness Through Dialogue and Innovation.” The Summit brought together more than 600 delegates from government, private sector, academia, and development agencies to confront one question: how can Kenya turn its agricultural potential into measurable prosperity?
Agriculture remains Kenya’s economic backbone, contributing nearly 22 percent of GDP and employing about 60 percent of the population. Yet the sector’s productivity has stagnated in recent years, constrained by outdated practices, limited access to finance, climate variability, and fragmented value chains. With food inflation hovering around 8.5 percent this year and youth unemployment exceeding 13 percent, the summit arrived at a decisive moment, when aligning innovation, investment, and inclusion is no longer aspirational but imperative.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, in his keynote address, positioned the summit as a catalyst for renewal. “We are strengthening entire value chains, enhancing market efficiency, and modernizing rural infrastructure to unlock the sector’s full potential,” he said, outlining reforms anchored in the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS) and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). These frameworks seek to consolidate policies, reduce duplication, and promote integrated value-chain financing, a response to years of disjointed interventions that have left farmers exposed to inefficiencies and middlemen exploitation.
Kenya’s ambition extends beyond domestic food security. The government estimates that modernizing agribusiness could lift annual export revenues by KES 250 billion within five years, particularly through horticulture, dairy, and fisheries. But realizing this growth depends on innovation ecosystems that link smallholder farmers with technology providers, processors, and markets. The summit underscored that future competitiveness will not come from more land or labour, but from data-driven farming, resilient infrastructure, and climate-smart investment.
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Speakers highlighted the urgency of climate adaptation in a sector that loses up to 3 percent of GDP annually to weather-related shocks. Droughts in 2022 alone affected over 4 million Kenyans and slashed maize production by nearly 20 percent. The summit therefore emphasized climate-smart agriculture (CSA), integrating soil testing, water efficiency, and renewable energy into farming systems. A case study presented from Machakos County showed that digital soil mapping and precision fertilizer use increased yields by 35 percent while cutting input costs by a quarter, illustrating how technology can deliver both productivity and sustainability.
Equally, digital transformation featured prominently in the dialogue. Kenya’s rapid adoption of mobile money and data platforms has created the foundations for “smart farming.” Through partnerships like Safaricom’s DigiFarm and the Agriculture Ministry’s e-extension system, smallholders are accessing credit, market prices, and agronomic advice via mobile devices. According to FAO data, digital advisory tools can boost smallholder income by up to 25 percent, underscoring why policy alignment and private innovation must go hand in hand.
Beyond technology, the human dimension of agriculture took centre stage. Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe issued a call to the country’s youth, noting that the average Kenyan farmer is 64 years old. “If we do not inject fresh energy and innovation, our food systems will age out,” he warned. He urged parents to facilitate land transfers and for youth to view agribusiness not as fallback employment but as a viable, profitable career. With the agri-food sector projected to create one in four jobs in Africa by 2030, Kenya’s demographic dividend could become its strongest advantage, if the right incentives and mentorship systems are in place.
The discussions also turned pragmatic, examining financing gaps that hinder agribusiness scale-up. While agriculture contributes over a fifth of GDP, it receives less than 4 percent of formal credit. Summit participants called for blended finance structures and crop-specific insurance schemes to de-risk investments. Kenya’s agricultural insurance penetration remains below 3 percent, compared to over 30 percent in South Africa, underscoring untapped opportunities in risk-sharing models.
Private-sector leaders at the summit argued that policy stability is just as vital as capital. Frequent regulatory shifts, from fertilizer subsidies to export levies, have often blurred market signals. Participants proposed an Agribusiness Policy Council, jointly managed by the government and private sector, to institutionalize consultation and ensure predictability in reforms.
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Regionally, Kenya’s efforts mirror broader trends across Africa. In Nigeria, the government’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones are drawing billions in investment, while Ethiopia is digitizing fertilizer distribution and farmer registries. Rwanda’s Smart Nkunganire System, linking farmers to input suppliers through e-vouchers, has already increased productivity in maize and potato value chains. These cases illustrate that agricultural modernization is no longer theoretical, it is unfolding, unevenly but decisively, across the continent.
Adding a celebratory note to the summit, this year’s National Agribusiness Excellence Awards 2025 honored innovators, entrepreneurs, and organizations redefining the sector’s future.
One Acre Fund (Tupande) and Evyga Agrochemicals Store were crowned Agripreneurs of the Year, while Wamwin Enterprise and Terralima received the Agri Service Provider Award.
Eco Warrior and Empresario emerged as Climate Champions, with youth-led ventures like Pure Pantry (Mipe Holdings Ltd) and SINCY Research Centre earning recognition for their leadership in innovation and sustainable farming.
Omnia Distributors Ltd and ChildFund Kenya took home the Impact and Innovation Award, while AGRIFLEX Ltd and Avepo Agrovets Ltd were celebrated for championing women in agriculture.
The awards underscored that transformation is not just policy-driven but powered by the resilience and creativity of local entrepreneurs turning challenges into enterprise.
As the summit closed, delegates agreed that Kenya’s path forward lies in operational discipline, translating dialogue into measurable impact. That means stronger coordination between county and national governments, agile financing mechanisms for smallholders, and institutional accountability for policy execution. It also means embedding sustainability metrics, water use efficiency, soil health, emissions intensity, into agricultural planning, ensuring that growth does not come at ecological cost.
In its fifth year, the National Agribusiness Summit has evolved beyond a policy forum into a mirror reflecting the country’s progress and its unfinished work. Kenya stands at an inflection point: with its natural endowment, entrepreneurial youth, and robust innovation ecosystem, agriculture can move from vulnerability to value creation. But only if strategy gives way to sustained action, in the fields, factories, and markets where the country’s future harvest truly begins.
