Experts have called for stronger monitoring and continuous review of Kenya’s agroecology policy to ensure sustainable agricultural transformation amid growing environmental and economic challenges.
Speaking during the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) Policy Management Tool training in Nairobi, Alice Nyaga, an agricultural engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Chair of the Agroecology National Technical Committee, said Kenya is making progress in implementing the National Agroecology Strategy for Food Systems Transformation.
Nyaga said the government is working with counties, development partners, and other stakeholders to roll out the strategy across all 47 counties and that counties have been given four implementation pathways, including developing county-level strategies, policies, programmes, or laws aligned with agroecology goals.
“So far, 10 counties have started the process, although challenges such as limited budgets and resources remain,” she said, noting that the strategy seeks to promote sustainable food production, biodiversity conservation, environmental protection, and safe, nutritious diets.
Nyaga added that Kenya is developing a monitoring and evaluation framework to track implementation progress, improve data collection, and support reporting under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
ASARECA Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Moses Odeke said the organization is supporting agroecology policy implementation through the CAADP-XP4 programme funded by the European Union and managed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
He said ASARECA has developed a policy manager tool to help stakeholders analyze and formulate agricultural policies and strengthen evidence-based implementation.
“To successfully promote agroecology technologies, we need to strengthen stakeholder capacity and create an enabling policy environment,” Odeke said.
Policy researcher Timothy Njagi from the African Network of Policy Research Institutes (NAPRI) said continuous monitoring is necessary because environmental and economic pressures are rapidly changing.
“Policies are not static; they evolve over time. Monitoring helps identify whether policies are achieving their intended objectives and any unintended consequences,” Njagi said.
He warned that challenges such as climate change, soil degradation, drought, population growth, and increasing economic activities continue to affect agroecological systems and agricultural sustainability.
Julian Baronji, Program Officer for Policy at ASARECA, said the management tool being used to analyze Kenya’s National Agroecology Strategy was developed in 2023 to help assess how well policies are designed and implemented and whether they are addressing the intended problems.
“It has been rolled out across member countries in response to demand from governments seeking to strengthen policy implementation; it helps identify gaps and challenges in ongoing policies so corrections can be made early, avoid policy failure, and ensure policies achieve their intended impact”, Baronji added.
Achilley Kiwanuka Ssemwanga, program officer for the information system from ASARECA, said the tool is important during the implementation and end-of-life stages of a policy, where it helps determine whether objectives are being met and whether improvements are needed.
“It looks at factors such as awareness among farmers, government funding, scientific compliance, and communication of policy expectations,” he added.
By analyzing these interconnected elements, Ssebwana said the tool supports evidence-based improvements that ensure policies remain relevant and beneficial to all stakeholders involved.
The three-day training is expected to generate recommendations and an action plan to strengthen implementation of the agroecology strategy across the region.
By Wangari Ndirangu
