Kenya, November 2024
Annual Rice Sector Review Meeting on 7th November in Nairobi, Kenya
Rice is the third most important cereal food crop in Kenya, after maize and wheat, as rice production increased significantly. According to the MoALD data, the amount of paddy rice produced in Kenya has doubled in the past 6 years between 2018 to 2023, from 116,000 MT to 244,000 MT. However, domestic rice consumption has increased at a higher pace and the rice self-sufficiency rate remains below 20%. The Government of Kenya (GoK) has therefore identified rice among the priority crops in its development plans and strategies, as stipulated in the Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2027 themed ‘Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda for Inclusive Growth’; the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS 2019-2029), among others.
The GoK in collaboration with stakeholders has been promoting rice production guided by the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS-2: 2019-2030) with goal of moving the Country towards rice self-sufficient in Kenya. Relevant data has been collected and analyzed by the NRDS technical team for monitoring, learning, sharing and planning for the implementation of NRDS-2. This data set and analysis helps establish the current situation around the rice sector in Kenya against the national goal for food security and economic development. It is against this background that the Annual Rice Sector Review Meeting (ARSRM) for Kenya was organized on 7th of November 2024 at Nairobi (Sarova Panafric Hotel) through the support of the CARD Secretariat to share the data with stakeholders, identify gaps and discuss future actions.
The main purpose of the ARSRM was to inform stakeholders of the implementation status of NRDS 2 issues and gaps faced in the rice sector, the strategic interventions as well as identify further actions needed to achieve the intended results. It is expected that the results from the ARSRM will be incorporated into decision-making, including mobilizing support and resource allocation for the rice sector development. By providing a common basis for understanding the issues and priorities of the rice sector; the ARSRM will serve as a conduit for the stakeholders to engage in sustainable development of the rice sector. This report summarizes the outcome of the ARSRM.
ARSRM Activities and Outputs
Opening ceremony
The ARSRM commenced with self-introduction of all the participants which was facilitated by Mr. Raphael Kitonyi from Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD). Afterwards, the NRDS Focal Point, Dr. Mary Mutembei cordially welcomed all the participants in the first Kenya ARSRM and outlined the objectives of the workshop. Subsequently, the opening remarks from the honorable key guest, Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department of Agriculture in Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Kipronoh Ronoh, were affably delivered by Mr Collins Marangu in his absentia. Primarily, he recognized the committee efforts in planning this important annual sector review meeting to deliberate on the issues affecting the rice production. In addition, he highlighted the importance of rice sector in Kenya and emphasized on the commitment of MoALD in promoting rice sector through the implementation of NRDS 2, fertilizer subsidy program and strengthening Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach to enable fast adoption of high yielding rice varieties, technology transfer, processing facilities, market and creation of employment opportunities along the rice value chain. Through the government fertilizer subsidy program and enabled youth projects, the PS highlighted that there is a notable increase in the number of beneficiary farmers and youth involvement in rice value chain. In this year, he indicated that 105,186 bags of fertilizer were redeemed in 10 major rice growing regions which is an indicator of possible rise in target production.
Participants
The ARSRM workshop was attended by the members of NRDS Task Force, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) and other governmental organizations such as Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), National Irrigation Authority (NIA) and Joint Agriculture Sector Consultation and Cooperation Mechanism (JASCCOM), line Ministries including Ministry of Water Sanitation and Irrigation (MoWSI) and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Private sector and millers (representatives from Proseed company and Lake Basin Development Company (LBDC)), Development Partners (representatives from K-Rice Project representative (Kopla centre Kenya), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Africa Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Coalition for Africa Rice Development (CARD)), County governments representatives (from Kisumu, Kirinyaga, Busia, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Homa Bay and Migori), Farmers organizations representatives (from Kirinyaga, East Africa Grain council and Cereal Growers Association (CGA)). Although the actors were present in this ARSRM, a weak representation of the donors was partial which compromised the significance of this workshop. For the next ARSRMs, it is therefore recommended that a prospect advocacy mission conducted to ensure the participation of all expected actors.
Presentations
The ARSRM is envisaged to contribute to formulating and refining interventions and policies through; 1) monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the NRDS2 and 2) updating priorities, achievements, progress, difficulties and limitations in the existing rice policies and interventions and 3) recommending short-term measures and based on evidence. The ARSRM desires to encourage development partners and private sector to align their support for a well-coordinated development of the rice sector in Kenya.
To envision this objective of the ARSRM, a series of presentations were done to the participants during the workshop. The first presentation was an overview on rice value chain in Kenya NRDS-2 presented by NRDS FP, Dr Mary Mutembei. The presentation highlighted the rice production overview in Kenya, the NRDS-2 objectives and its implementation strategy by focusing on 4 key areas (Resilience, Industrialization, competitiveness and Empowerment) and highlighted some current project interventions in the rice value chain such as CaDPREP (by Government and JICA), Africa agricultural Technology Foundation, NAVCDP (by World Bank), Kilimo Trust, CARD, Private sector, International Research Institute & KALRO, K-Rice Project (Kenya -Korea) and Farmer cooperatives. Furthermore, major challenges in the rice value chain were outlined including low production and productivity, low mechanization, biotic and abiotic stresses, weak producer and marketing organizations, inadequate irrigation infrastructure and inadequate data collection framework.
To monitor the implementation on the Kenya NRDS for phase 2, 12 indicators (4 Overall, and 2 each in Resilience, Industrialization, Competitiveness and Empowerment) were identified during the baseline survey which was undertaken in 2022. During this timing M&E framework and the data collection methodology set. The second presentation was to present and share the NRDS M&E results with the ARSRM stakeholders to guide decision making, strategy implementation and policy formulation in the rice development. This presentation was done by Dr. Wilson Oyange, a member of NRDS TF team. The result for each indicator was presented highlighting the current figures (year 2023) and the set 2030 targets figures. The table below highlights the summary of each indicator progress for NRDS 2 implementation as outlined during the ARSRM.
| Category | Indicator name/Code | Details on progress of each indicator for NRDS 2 implementation |
| Overall | Total quantity of Paddy produced (O1) | Total Quantity of paddy production has increased from 147,572 MT in 2018 to 244,058 MT in 2023. Target of total paddy produced by 2030 is 1,301,000 MT. However, there has been no significant increase in the rainfed and lowland paddy production in 2023. |
| Total area harvested (O2) | Total area harvested area has increased from 34,508 ha in 2018 to 44,379 ha in 2023. Target of total harvested area by 2030 is 222,000 ha. However, there has been a decrease in the rainfed and lowland paddy production towards 2023 which can be attributed to challenges in milling capacities and climate change. | |
| Average Yield (O3) | Average yield (ton/ha) has increased from 4.3t /Ha in 2018 to 5.5t /Ha in 2023 due increased adoption of improved management practices and introduction of high yielding varieties. Target of total average yield by 2030 is 5.9t /Ha. There is a general increase in yield for rice under irrigated ecology while yields under the rainfed and lowland ecologies have generally declined. | |
| Self-sufficiency (O4) | NRDS Phase 2 aims to achieve at least 65% self-sufficiency in rice by 2030. However, self-sufficiency ratio stood at 14.1% in 2023, rising only slightly from 13.4% in 2018. | |
| Resilience | Area under irrigation (R1) | The area under irrigated rice in both community and NIA managed schemes has increased from 34,140 in 2018 to 44,178 ha in 2023 due to significant investment in irrigation water management. Target for 2030 is 180,000 ha. |
| Quantity of resilient variety seeds (R2) | Total quantity of certified seeds of resilient varieties rose from 111.6 tons in 2018 to 466.3 tons in 2023. Total target by 2030 is 3,923 MT. | |
| Industrialization | Level of industrial milling capacity (I1) | The level share of industrial rice milling (>2 t/hr) was 12.8% where majority of the mills are located in Mwea scheme. The NRDS target for 2030 is to increase the share of industrial milling capacity to 25%. |
| Level of mechanization (I2) | This data will be collected based on the number of machinery/equipment services providers in rice producing areas. | |
| Competitiveness | Share of the local rice in the market (C1) | It is assumed that the supermarkets that are hardest to have for local rice to penetrate due to the rice quality standards. The share of local rice brands based on selected supermarkets in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Kakamega was 60%. The intention is to promote the quality of local rice to get a greater share into the local market thus reducing the imports. |
| Quantity of high-yielding varieties (C2) | Quantity of certified seeds of high-yielding varieties has increased from 17.9 MT in 2019 to 64.6 MT in 2023. Quantity of high-yielding locally produced variety seeds is higher than imported ones. The total target for 2030 is 377.1 MT. | |
| Empowerment | Smallholder farmers in preselected farmers groups/associations having access to financial services (E1) | This represents the number of smallholder farmers in the pre-selected farmer groups or associations having access to financial services as an indicator of the support farmers are receiving from financial institutions. Data collection revealed that about 8,275 members accessed financial services in MRGM in Mwea. Although it has been difficult to collect data from other rice-producing areas, more efforts will be made to access data in 2025. |
| Smallholder farmers in preselected farmers groups/associations having access to technical training and services (E2) | This represents the number of smallholder farmers having access to technical training and services. In 2023, about 1,500 rice farmers received technical training and services across the country. | |
| Price | Prices of local and imported rice (P) | The information of rice price was collected from key supermarkets in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kakamega and Mombasa for four different categories of rice: Local Aromatic Rice, Local Non-Aromatic Rice, Imported Aromatic Rice, and Imported Non-Aromatic Rice.
The national average shows that imported aromatic rice had a higher price (Ksh335/kg) than local aromatic rice (Ksh 308/kg). However, in Mombasa, the imported aromatic rice (Ksh290/kg) was cheaper than local aromatic rice (Ksh297kg). The price gap between the imported aromatic rice and the local aromatic rice was very high in Kisumu and Kakamega (Ksh365/kg vs Ksh309/kg in Kisumu; Ksh370/kg vs Ksh316/kg in Kakamega).
For the non-aromatic rice, the price of imported rice (Ksh172/kg) was lower than that of local rice (Ksh178/kg) at the national average, and this tendency is commonly observed in Nairobi (Ksh181/kg vs Ksh180/kg), Mombasa (Ksh185/kg vs Ksh197/kg) and Kisumu (Ksh148/kg vs Ksh164/kg), while the imported non-aromatic rice had higher price than local non-aromatic rice in Kakamega (Ksh172/kg vs Ksh176/kg).
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The Third presentation was on the concept note and analysis on the SIEM interventions delivered by Prof. JC Onyango, a member of NRDS TF team whereby the needs against the interventions in all the segments of rice value chain were presented. Current interventions affect some segments of value chain such as soil management, access to seeds, water management, mechanization and crop management are sufficient in terms of policy interventions however insufficient in research, extension, infrastructure, finance and Gender/youth inclusion. The supply and demand interactions show that several sub-sectors need to be strengthened to improve the rice sector to achieve the objective of doubling rice production and self-sufficiency by 2030. These areas that need interventional prioritization includes;
- Revamped research and dissemination of technologies in the segments of water management, mechanization (on-farm) and trading/marketing along the rice value chain for sustainable development
- Improved access to extension in rice seed sector, water management, crop management (handling, storage, milling and value addition)
- Enhanced infrastructure in areas of land management, water management, mechanization, postharvest management and trading/marketing along the rice value chain
- Improved access to finance in all segments along the rice value chain
- Improve gender and youth inclusion in all the segments along the rice value chain
Moreover, the revised concept notes for Kenya based on the outcome of the gap analysis using SIEM whereby the mapping of needs against supply was done were presented to the ARSRM participants. The table below summarizes the concepts notes and budget need for the areas that require interventions and improvements in the Kenya’s rice value chain.
| CN | Project Title | Budget (USD) |
| 1 | Expansion of area under rice cultivation through rehabilitation of existing irrigation infrastructures | 140,000,000 |
| 2 | Expansion of area under rice cultivation through development of new irrigation infrastructures | 500,000,000 |
| 3 | Expansion of rain-fed rice production area in Counties with potential for rice growing | 160,000,000 |
| 4 | Enhance market competitiveness by improving quality of locally produced rice | 5,500,000 |
| 5 | Enhance market competitiveness of locally produced rice by reducing production cost production | 105,000,000 |
| 6 | Promotion of appropriate mechanization options along the rice value chain in Kenya | 37,200,000 |
| 7 | Promotion of efficient rice marketing and trading | 27,000,000 |
| 8 | Promoting and upscaling value addition (rice products, by-products, packaging, branding and nutrition security) | 1,200,000 |
| Total | 975,900,000 |
The presentations were followed by a plenary session involving the contributions of the development partners and private sector whereby they shared their reactions to the presentations and their current projects related to rice. The representatives from rice farmers’ organizations and county government (Tana-river, Taita Taveta, Muranga, Homabay, Migori, Kirinyaga and Kisumu) highlighted the current situation in rice production, potential areas for growth and development of the rice sector and challenges that the rice farmers face in their respective regions. Some of the challenges the farmers are facing includes; low prices for paddy, water scarcity especially dry seasons, lack of access to reliable markets which impacts profitability, poor irrigation infrastructures, pests and diseases, limited mechanization (many farmers still use traditional methods with limited efficiency and scalability), high cost and limited access of farm inputs and poor accessibility to seeds.
In conclusion, the outcomes of this ARSRM are evidence that it is essential to accelerate the pace of production of quality paddy through intervening in the key areas and addressing pinpointed challenges to achieve the 2030 target of 1,301,000MT for production and a self-sufficiency rate of 65%. In addition, reinforcing the monitoring system both technically and financially is crucial throughout the NRDS 2 implementation.
Closing remarks
The ARSRM reflections were shared by the CARD secretariat General Coordinator, Mr. Ken Fujie who appreciated all the participants for their fruitful discussions and contributions during the sessions. He highly congratulated the Kenya NRDS TF team for successfully organizing this ARSRM event. Furthermore, he appreciated the development partners for participating in important deliberations on the real issues concerning rice sustainability/improving farmers’ living standards and emphasized that CARD is ready and looking forward to further engagements for improvements of the rice value chain.
The ARSRM meeting adjourned with closing remarks delivered by Deputy Director of Crop Resources, Mr Leonard Kubok. He appreciated the development partners and stakeholders for prolific deliberations spanning the enhancement of the rice value chain to ensure food security in Kenya. He empathized on the government’s efforts and involvement in the rice sector through enhancing mechanization infrastructure and addressing issues that the farmers face along the rice value chain. He emphasized that there is a need to explore the potential expansion areas to increase rice cultivation and increase the adoption of tolerant seed varieties. Furthermore, he appealed to the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) to initiate discussions on opening more areas for rice production.
Way forward
The agreed post-ARSRM actions by the NRDS TF are outlined as follows; 1) to develop new concept notes involving the key messages drawn from the ARSRM discussion in the fiscal year 2025, 2) to improve the M&E exercise and methodology based on the experiences in this year, 3) to conduct fund mobilization activity to tap momentum based on the Annual report and concept noted (based on gap analyses) from several development partners (DPs) in areas of seed/inputs, expansion of areas, mechanization (On-farm and off-farm) and policy (including M&E data collection).
During ARSRM in Nairobi, Kenya
