BY GRAN CHICO |MOMBASA, August 18, 2026
National and county government leaders convened a joint review meeting on Tuesday at the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort & Spa to advance the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) and the Food Systems Resilience Project (FSRP).
The high-level forum, organised by the Council of Governors in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and partners, focused on strengthening intergovernmental collaboration, enhancing agricultural value chains, building resilient food systems, and promoting sustainable livelihoods across Kenya’s counties.
Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development Mutahi Kagwe attended alongside Principal Secretary for Agriculture Dr. Paul Ronoh and Principal Secretary for Trade Regina Ombam.
Speaking to the media, CS Kagwe said the government was shifting its focus towards making agriculture more commercially viable and attractive to investors. “Agriculture is not just to feed us, it is also a business. We are putting the farmers, food security, jobs, and income at the center of a national development.”
Kagwe identified job creation as a central priority in the government’s agricultural agenda, saying employment opportunities would increasingly shape policy decisions across the sector under the AgriConnect Programme, a partnership involving the national government, county governments, the World Bank and the private sector.
He said the government is also working to make Kenya a more attractive investment destination for agriculture by reviewing policies and reducing the tax and bureaucratic burden facing farmers and agribusinesses.
“We want to create jobs, we will be working with the Treasury, for example, to frame some of the taxation regimes that we have so that we can reduce some of the many taxes that we put on our farmers, on our agribusiness,” Kagwe said.
NAVCDP, a World Bank-funded initiative implemented across 34 counties, aims to help smallholder farmers transition from subsistence farming to profitable, market-oriented commercial enterprises. The project supports priority value chains while promoting greater market participation and value addition.
The meeting forms part of ongoing efforts to scale up the implementation of NAVCDP and FSRP. The programmes support irrigation expansion, livestock development, drought response measures, climate-smart agricultural practices, improved market linkages, and broader food systems resilience, particularly benefiting farmers and pastoralists in participating counties.
