Experts push for policy to address extension officers shortage
Agricultural experts in Kenya are urging the government to implement the 2023 Kenya Agricultural Sector Extension Policy to address severe understaffing. The current ratio of extension officers to farmers is far below recommended levels, hindering effective agricultural advisory services.
Why it matters
Improving agricultural extension services is critical for food security and economic development in agrarian economies like Kenya.
Director of Crop Resources Management in the State Department for Agriculture, Douglas Kangi, addressing media at the sidelines of the 4th National extension officers conference held in Nairobi/WANGECHI WANG'ONDU Stakeholders in agriculture advisory services have called for operationalisation of the Kenya Agricultural Sector Extension Policy (KASEP) to address challenges facing the sector.
They say implementing the legal framework developed in 2023 could help resolve key challenges that have hindered the effective management of extension services in the country.
Director of Crop Resources Management in the State Department for Agriculture, Douglas Kangi, cited the main challenge which is severe understaffing in public extension services, noting that the workforce falls far below the recommended threshold, creating room for the proliferation of unqualified practitioners.
He noted that although agriculture and extension services are devolved, with recruitment guided by need, the national government has conducted only two small-scale recruitment exercises since 1997.
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