Covid-19 response in Kenya’s Nakuru County: A lesson in staying afloat
Since the enactment of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution, whose centrepiece was the devolution of many government functions, regional administrations have taken on a greater responsibility for food security matters, and agricultural development as a whole.
Nakuru County is located in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. Even before the onset of the pandemic, the region was experiencing rapid urbanization, despite being one of the major agricultural zones of the country. Covid-19 has added to the complex maze of development challenges facing the county that can only be described as “wicked problems”.
As Kenya’s fourth largest city, the county headquarters, Nakuru, is located in one of the fastest urban zones in Africa. One of the main consequences of such growth is that fertile agricultural areas around the broader metropolitan area are increasingly being converted into commercial and residential real estate.
For a region that is a leading producer of potatoes, wheat, and cattle products, continued urbanization is likely to have a major impact on the country’s food system, as was the case for Kiambu County, in the environs of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
One of the steps the Nakuru County Government is taking to sustain agricultural production is to initiate various urban planning initiatives. Such projects are meant to check uncontrolled development. This will prevent misuse of agricultural land, so as to provide much needed real estate without threatening food security.
I spoke with Dr. Immaculate Njuthe Maina, Nakuru County’s Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries on how the county is handling the situation.
How is the Agriculture Department coping?
One of the immediate challenges for the county is that it is very difficult to plan ahead because the situation is quite unpredictable. With the number of Covid-19 infections still on the rise, it is unclear when normalcy will resume.
All our agriculture-related directorates in the county, including Crop Development, Livestock Production, and Veterinary Services, are working to ensure that agricultural production is maintained, in spite of the pandemic.
That is in line with county priorities, as set out in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). We are also working closely with other departments in the county, as well as other partners like NGOs, and research institutes.
What are some of the priority projects you are currently working on?
We are keenly monitoring the production of our staple foods including maize, potatoes and vegetables. We are continuing to support farmers with extension services via farm visits, the existing network of Ward Offices, as well as remotely through the Nakuru County Farmers’ Call Centre.
In partnership with the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP), we have established a potato farmers’ platform which brings together all stakeholders of this priority crop across the county. Similar platforms have been set up for the dairy, apiculture and poultry value chains. These innovative platforms ease coordination of farming operations as part of our Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP II).
We are also working on a crop diversification program with the view of encouraging commercial production of avocado and macadamia. It is among Governor Lee Kinyanjui’s flagship projects and is meant to achieve three main things: raising incomes; increasing tree cover in the county; and, through local consumption, improving nutritional status within the community.
What are some examples of social protection policies in the county?
Examples of policies that directly impact on food security include the recently completed Nakuru County Animal Welfare Bill, and Nakuru Dairy Strategic Plan. Both bills were developed in collaboration with SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation / Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS), and the Dairy Platform. The Nakuru office of the Kenya Dairy Boardwas also involved.
The Nakuru County Food Safety Policy is also under development, with support from DANIDA. Food safety remains a concern. A while back, we banned hawking of fish along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway due to public health concerns. This policy will be ready in the near future and is expected to cater for safety of food across all value chains.
We are also developing standards on, and encouraging the consumption of, various indigenous vegetables. Despite their high nutritional value and adaptation to local conditions, most of these vegetables have been largely ignored. Before disruption by the virus, we were holding cooking classes and also vegetable drying demonstrations especially targeting young mothers. We want to inspire a cultural shift so as to promote increased usage of these vegetables.
How are you tackling supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic??
Covid-19 containment measures have, naturally, disrupted food distribution networks across Kenya. However, a significant number of food distributors remain active in Nakuru and continue to get foodstuffs from farmers across the county. The Nakuru wholesale market is still very active.
As a government, we have taken two major steps. The first one involved relocation of markets to spacious venues such as the Afraha Stadium. This limits crowding while also ensuring that consumers get access to food. Secondly, we have entered into a partnership with e-commerce farmers’ platform Mkulima Young. Farmers from Nakuru can be registered for free on the platform to make countrywide purchases and sales.
What other Covid-19 related challenges is the county facing?
Being located in the world-famous Rift Valley region, Nakuru and its environs are a key tourist destination. The closure of hotels and flower farms due to Covid-19, has therefore left thousands of people jobless. Dozens have turned to illegal fishing on Lake Naivasha, piling extreme pressure on an already endangered lake.
Despite limited resources, we are collaborating with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Government security teams to secure the lake. At the same time, we are dissipating the pressure by restocking Lake Solai and other large dams with fingerlings for commercial fish production.
Covid-19 has also coincided with climate-related disasters that are affecting agricultural activities. Both lakes Nakuru and Naivasha have overflowed. Floods have displaced dozens of families, many of them within farming communities. Moreover, the ongoing invasion of desert locusts, which have destroyed tens of thousands of acres of crops and pasture across the country recently descended on Nakuru County. We have stepped up efforts to combat them to avoid further destruction.
So what next for the county?
As we continue to make efforts to ensure that our agricultural output does not go down, we are delighted with the national government’s decision to classify agriculture as an essential service. This is helping to maintain the movement of, and trade in food. The current situation also presents some opportunities as we are now all called upon to support local agriculture as external markets have been constrained by travel restrictions.
We must also develop food systems that anticipate the changes ahead, and are therefore more adaptive and resilient, while also continuing to strengthen integration with other social and economic sectors.
Written by Atula Owade.
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
