Kenya – The Kenyan government has officially consolidated all state-led agricultural digitisation initiatives under the new Kenya Agriculture Data and Information Centre (KADIC), positioning the entity as the core repository for the nation’s entire agricultural data ecosystem, including the Kenya Integrated Agriculture Management Information System (KIAMIS). Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Sen. Mutahi Kagwe, announced the pivotal move during a strategic briefing with the World Bank Regional Office leadership and the founding members of the MADE Alliance—Mastercard, Equity Bank, Microsoft, and the Kenya National Farmers Federation (KENAFF). The shift, which involves rebranding the Agriculture Information and Resource Centre (AIRC) to KADIC, aims to eliminate data duplication, significantly boost efficiency, and establish real-time connectivity across farmers, county governments, cooperatives, markets, and processors. Juma Salim, KADIC’s Director of Digital, noted that the integration of data from the Ministry’s 31 parastatals is expected to yield faster, more actionable insights for strategic decision-making and service delivery across the sector.
The new data framework will be central to the government’s flagship JobsConnect Compact, an ambitious initiative anchored on four key pillars: job creation, food and nutrition security, import substitution, and export growth. The Compact’s aggressive targets include the creation of 5.3 million new jobs, reducing the food-insecure population by 10 million people, cutting food imports by USD 2–3 billion, and escalating agricultural export earnings by USD 5 billion. KADIC Director Betty confirmed that the Centre is slated to lead the rollout of the Digital Agriculture Roadmap (DAR), an essential guiding framework set for launch next year.
CS Kagwe underscored the critical role of digital agriculture in improving farmer incomes and drawing the nation’s youth into a modern, technology-driven sector. He detailed an ongoing human resource transition within the Ministry, noting that with 30% of departmental heads nearing retirement, 20% already retired, and over half the workforce expected to exit within two years, the period presents a strategic opportunity to rebuild institutional capacity. This rebuilding will be executed through the Agri-Connect programmes, agri-preneurship training, the Kenya Agriculture College, and expanded digital soil testing services.
Development partners reaffirmed their alignment with the digitisation agenda. Mastercard highlighted the current constraints on financial visibility, revealing that only 2% of farmer transactions are currently processed through M-Pesa, limiting potential credit access. Equity Bank reiterated its commitment to agriculture as a core investment pillar, pledging support for initiatives that increase productivity, household savings, and long-term farmer wealth. Addressing the critical issue of sector financing, Kagwe stressed that agriculture cannot thrive under commercial lending rates of 18–19%, strongly advocating instead for a 5% guaranteed agricultural credit model as the most sustainable mechanism for unlocking significant sector growth. He also pointed to major existing government support, including the KSh 61 billion fertiliser subsidy programme and a KSh 17 billion credit facility, as key interventions to stabilise production and drive Kenya’s transition toward a resilient, digitised, and green agricultural economy.
