Agricultural Technology, Economic Viability and Poverty Alleviation in Kenya

4}} INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background. The major challenges facing Kenya today are poverty and unemployment. About 50% of the rural population and 30% of the urban population live below the poverty line. With 80% of the population being rural the poverty problem is overwhelming. The country has been unable to generate adequate employment and wage employment has been declining over the recent past. While in the 1970s the growth rate of employment was about 4% per annum, in the current decade, the growth rate has been about 1.9% per annum, which is below the population growth rate estimated at about 3%. The country has also witnessed declining growth in income per capita. While in the 1960s per capita income grew at 2.6% p.a. this declined to 0.4% in 1980s. The poverty line is defined here as the value of consumption of food and non-food items below which individuals cannot afford the recommended energy intake plus a minimum allowance for non-food consumption. The poverty line has been estimated at about US$ 200 and 300 for rural and urban areas respectively (GoK, 1998). This translates to less than one US$ per day. Of Kenya's total land area of 57.6 million hectares, 9.4 million or about 16% is classified as high and medium potential land for agriculture. The remaining area estimated at 84% makes up the arid and semi arid lands (ASALs). Out of the ASALs 48 million hectares, about 9 million hectares can support crop production, 15 million hectares is adequate for livestock production while the rest is dry and only useful for nomadic pastoralism. The ASAL supports about 20% of the population, 50% of livestock and 3% of current agricultural output and 7% of commercial output. ASALs have low natural fertility which are prone to compaction and vulnerable to erosion. The agriculture sector dominates the economy and contributes virtually to all the stated national goals including achievement of national and household food security, industrialization by year 2020 as well as provision of employment opportunities. Currently, agriculture accounts for about one-third of the gross domestic product, employs more than two-thirds of the labour force, accounts for almost 70% of the export earnings (excluding refined petroleum), generates the bulk of the country's food requirements and provides significant proportion of raw materials for the agricultural based industrial sector. Overall, the smallholder sub-sector contributes about 75% of the total value of agricultural output, 55% of the …