National Agribusiness Strategy.

The Kenya National Agribusiness Strategy is a sectorial strategy applicable at the national level that aims to guide the agricultural sector's development and transformation towards its re-orientation from a focus on subsistence to a new focus on meeting competitively the demands of the market and of commercialization. The Strategy has four objectives: (i) to remove barriers and create incentives for the private sector to invest in agribusiness and related business opportunities; (ii) to invest public resources more strategically to trigger growth in agribusiness; (iii) to make agribusiness systems more competitive, easily adaptable and fleet-footed in order to deal with dynamic markets and the opportunities they bring; and (iv) to encourage institutional frameworks that enable all actors to utilize market opportunities.
The following five priorities have been established: (i) to put markets at the centre of all production, processing, product development and packaging; (ii) to focus research and development and innovation to better catalyse growth of a vibrant agribusiness sector; (iii) to promote smarter organization of the actors in the sector to enable enterprises to benefit from economies of scale and improved productivity; (iv) to improve the range and effectiveness of financial and non-financial services; (v) to attract investments by creating an enabling environment and putting performance above politics.
Measures are taken by the Strategy to enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. In this context the national agribusiness strategy planes the following actions: (i) establish a market-oriented agriculture and agribusiness sector for Kenya in which all activities from breeding, to production, processing and packaging address the needs of the market; (ii) identify new and emerging markets for Kenyan products, and innovate our products to better meet niche and premium markets; (iii) improve the physical market infrastructure in Kenya, to include aspects as diverse and fundamental as sanitation and storage facilities. In addition the Strategy plans to (i) strengthen incentives and mechanisms to build stronger institutions that collaborate to effectively meet the needs of the market, (ii) improve smallholder farm productivity with increased use of technology, (iii) build capacity to carry out innovation and research beyond improving agricultural productivity, (iii) identify successful organizational models and share knowledge and best practices to promote those models among other groups,. (iv) create linkages among producers, processors, traders and suppliers, and (v) enhance saving among group members to enable better access to affordable credit, borrowing facilities. Finally, the Strategy envisages the following programmes and actions: (i) improve range and accessibility of financial and non-financial products that are suitable for agribusiness, (ii) strengthen the range and robustness of insurance schemes for small businesses, (iii) invest in infrastructure development, and (iv) create incentives for financial institutions to develop appropriate financial products.
In the context of governance, the functions and responsibilities of making agribusiness work effectively and efficiently are spread across 19 sector ministriies.