Questions/Answers

In 2013, the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP, 2012 -2016) in Kenya introduced a participatory value chain development approach as an initiative to address challenges in the sector. The initiative was introduced in all the 47 counties and targeted 1million value chain actors during the programme period. The value chain development approach is characterized by: stakeholder selection of value chains (VC) with potential to create impact in the economy; participatory VC analysis and development of VC action plans; identification of suitable projects to address the gap identified in VC action plans; implementation of the projects to support value chain initiative; and participatory monitoring and impact evaluation of the interventions. Though Kenya’s economy is highly dependent on Agriculture, the sector’s growth has over the years been constrained by factors such as: low production and productivity; inefficiencies in the agricultural supply chain due to poor organization of actors; limited value addition; unfavourable institutional arrangements; poor access to services among others. These constraints have ultimately resulted in lower productivity and incomes in the sector. For instance, the average yield for maize is 1.3 tonnes per ha and milk production has stagnated at less than 5 litres per cow per day. To solution to these constraints was to facilitate organization of value chain actors, provide capacity building on best practices and technologies for improved production and productivity; improve access to support services, facilitate development of business relationships among value actors and improve the enabling environment to enhance value chain development

The objectives of the initiative are: to put VC actors in a better position to increase their production and productivity; to improve the quality and marketing of their products, and consequently to generate higher incomes. All these are aimed at contributing to poverty reduction by creating paid employment in primary production, processing and trade. Under the value-chain promotion approach, other activities are also promoted between direct value chain (Micro actors) ,meso level supporting organizations (e.g. state and private-sector advisory organizations, research institutions, financial organizations) and macro level organizations ( e.g. regulatory bodies). Within this context, value-chain initiative aims to: facilitate the organization of horizontal actors; facilitate business relationships between different actor groups in a value chain; facilitate access to advisory services; facilitate access to financing, inputs and business advisory services. The aim here is to create partnerships with these support organizations in order to make innovations and services more accessible to value chain actors for broader impact and sustainability.

The promotion of stable VCA relationships is central to participatory value chain development. The programme achieved this through establishment of institutions within the value chain i.e. producer organizations and cooperatives. These were primarily aimed at promoting stable actors relationships for business development within the selected value chains. Other key institutions that were initiated established through the programme were Agricultural Stakeholder Forums (ASF), Value Chain Platforms (VCPs) and Value Chain Core Groups. These institutions were developed with the spirit of inclusivity and were a critical avenue for public and private dialogue and participatory decision making. The ASF and VCPs which were constituted in all the 47 counties played a key role in: the selection of 3 value chains for programme support; and, participatory VC analysis and development of the VC action plans. Nature of forum is more general to the sector, the VCP is specific to a commodity. Both bodies are constituted from representatives of: input suppliers, producers, traders, processors etc; government authorities and agencies; agricultural NGOs, research institutions, financial institutions and, macro level representatives such as policy makers and regulatory bodies. The VCCG has a membership of 5-7 persons and acts as the VCP secretariat, plays a key role in steering implementation.

The programme has provided institutional support for county based government institutions and other government agencies to provide capacity development in response to the stakeholder identified VC gaps. For instance, the intervention for inadequate supply of potato seed in the Irish potato value chain was to development community based potato see multiplication centres within Bomet County. Expert knowledge on potato seed multiplication and plant health was necessary for this activity. The programme intervention was to facilitate experts from a potato research centre and national plant health inspectorate services to train a group of producers on the process of potato seed multiplication. The group is in the process of certified and registered as potato seed multipliers Other forms of institution support involved supporting the VCPs to hold quarterly meetings. that that provided a space for public and private sector engagements e.g. the value chain The VCPs platforms and have played a key role in by providing private sector actors to give their views especially with regard to infrastructure development roads, bridges, etc. that is necessary for value chain development. In addition, the VCPs also provided space to critique unfavorable existing regulatory frameworks which eventually stimulated their review e.g. Pyrethrum Act 2013.

The issue of poor access to government advisory services has been exacerbated by reduced operational funding in the sector. To address this issue initiative adopted the extended concept extended concept model as mechanism for harnessing resources from partners as a means of addressing stakeholder identified VC bottlenecks. Subsequently, the model stimulated joint planning and implementation and thus provided synergy and generated leverage funding from county governments, private sector and non-governmental organizations in support value chain development initiatives. The leverage funds were used to support capacity development of various actors through the provision of technical packages on areas such as promotion of high-yielding seeds and genetic material, integrated pest management practices safe use of agro chemicals, soil and water conservation techniques, herd management and animal health and value addition practices, business skills among others.

Maize was one the value chains that stakeholders identified for programme support in Narok County. The VCP identified major bottlenecks in the value chain as: weak linkages along the value chain; inadequate knowledge and capacity on value addition technologies in maize; unsuitable varieties for various agro ecological zones; low adoption of environmental resilient and climate smart technologies; poor market infrastructure and inadequate postharvest handling facilities. Using the extended concept funding mechanism, the programme in collaboration with partners supported capacity building activities in the identified areas which resulted in: establishment of 17 maize variety trials and demonstrations sites and formation and registration of three Cereal Cooperative Societies for maize bulking and marketing. With further capacity building and institutional linkage support from the programme and partners using the funding mechanism, one of the cooperatives, Meguara Farmers Cereal Cooperative ( 482 members, 251 female, 231 male) , was able to improve its operations as follows: increase in area under maize acreage from 111.5 acres to 2400 acres; increase in maize production from 1115 bags to 36000 bags( increase in productivity from 10/acres to 15 bags/acre); secured a contract to supply World Food Programme (WFP) with 150 Metric tonnes of maize worth KES 4.6 million( $46,000).

Previous government interventions in the sector were mostly top down approaches, addressed the challenges in the whole sector in general and, tended to focus on at one segment of the value chain, i.e. production function thus ignoring the aspect of linkages within the chain. The value chain approach on the other hand brought in the issue of targeted a specific commodity which had a potential to generate wide impacts in terms of food security and income generation. Unlike the previous approach, it also provided for comprehensive approach for the identification and removal of key constraints along the whole value chain of the specific commodity. The arising interventions therefore had high impact within the targeted communities. The involvement of stakeholders through the various stakeholder bodies was also another innovative mechanism which highly contributed towards ownership of the programme and also led to accountability and transparency among development partners. The extended concept funding model hand which proved to be useful in harnessing resources from partners to address VC bottlenecks was also innovative as it brought many partners together to address VC bottlenecks. In previous development approaches, one partner mostly the government and NGOs undertook to solve all the bottlenecks.

The value chain approach has in recent times become the standard methodology for rural and agricultural development programmes worldwide to improve the efficiency of agricultural value chains. The programme adapted the methodology to fit within the country context by establishing and institutionalizing stakeholder bodies such at the VCP agriculture sector forums nationwide. The extended concept funding mechanism which draws its problem statement from the VC action plan to propose intervention is also an adaptation from existing agricultural funding mechanisms and is a hybrid between a concept and full proposal. This hybridization was developed in order to allow for implementation within the programme’s budgetary timelines.

The total financial resources were KES 3.853 billion or $ 38,530,000 (Government of Sweden) and KES 1.billion or $10000000 from Government of Kenya, totaling to KES 4.854 billion or $ 48,540,000 (over the 5 year period. Other partners contributed towards the leverage funding totaling $13,101, 776 over a three year period. These funds w ere used to finance operations and extended concept funding models. Human resources: Public servants were drawn mainstream ministries local governments to oversee programme implementation at both national and county level Materials or other resources e.g. vehicles and computers were acquired by national government to facilitate programme implementation while offices were provided by the county governments

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Two key projects within the sector namely, Lake Victoria Environmental Programme II (LVEMP II) and, Small Irrigation and Value Addition Project (SIVAP) adopted the value chain methodological approach. The first project used ASDSP’s capacity on value chain development to assist in identification of “greening value chain” within the Lake Victoria Basin. This was to fulfill donor’s requirement that the selection process should be inclusive and participatory. The second project, adopted the methodology after the irrigation schemes they had set up failed to take off due to failure of involving the community in value chain selection and other planning and decision making during project implementation.

There is potential for social sustainability is aided by the programme’s strong focus on stakeholder engagement right from problem identification, decision making and planning of activities. In addition, the programme’s focus on partnerships and collaboration during implementation has created synergy building and leverage funding which has proved to be beneficial for sector coordination. Sharing of success stories through the stakeholder forums has also aided in reducing duplication of efforts and has aided in replication of good practices. Economic sustainability of impacts of value chain development approach are likely to be sustained due increased use of technologies and improved management practices which has resulted increases in production and productivity along the value chain segments. In addition, the strengthening of value chain bodies such as producers associations and cooperatives as well as improved linkages between value chain segments has led to improved business relationships and economic benefits along the chain. Environmental sustainability is likely to be sustained through as a result of the capacity building activities on natural resource management, climate change technologies for environmental resilience that that the programme supported. These carried out through the extended concept funding mechanism to respond to stakeholder identified VC gaps. Adoption of the climate smart technologies led to tangible economic benefits to VC actors and will enhance adoption of the same by other actors who were not targeted by the programme.

From the very onset, the programme has adhered to the principles of inclusivity and participatory decision making in all its activities through stakeholder bodies. For example, the programme supported the Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP). This is stakeholder process in which the Kenya Meteorological services shares and interpret share climate information with value chain stakeholders to enable adapatation to a local context, i.e. it enables the development of plans that adequately respond adequately to climate risk and uncertainity. The activity has already been picked up by other organizations such as Care Kenya, Wiser Project and a few local governments e.g. Makueni and Wajir County Governments which is a strong indicator that the activity is likely to continue even in the absence of the programme. More significantly , Wajir County has institutioned the PSP through the enactment of Wajir County Climate Change Fund Act while Makueni Government has employed weather advisory monitors in all sub counties to assist in delivery of climate information

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An end term evaluation (ETE) of ASDSP was conducted in December 2016 with the objective of establishing the Programme’s impacts by analyzing its achievements, challenges and implementation mechanism. Twenty counties out of the 47 counties were purposively selected to represent the country. Selection was done on the basis of regional balance, value chain types and the predominant agro-ecological zone. Secondary data was collected from all the 47 counties through desk reviews of reports and documents. A structured questionnaire wad developed from the programme’s log frame Trained data collectors then used the structured questionnaire used to collect primary data from 2,406 randomly selected Value Chain Actors (VCAs) that participated in the programme and at least 240 other VCAs that were not targeted by the Programme. Information from Value Chain Organizations and similar special interest groups was collected through Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews. Data entry and analysis was accomplished through Microsoft Excel 2010 and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and presented as descriptive statistics outlining the Programme’s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impacts and sustainability.

Through this initiative the programme together with partners was able to coordinate and facilitate capacity building on sectoral planning, policy formulation and preparation of the sector wide monitoring and evaluation and institutional reform framework. 75% of VCAs applied NRM practices in their agricultural enterprises by 2016 compared to 41% in 2013. Additionally, 63% of VCAs also applied knowledge on climate change related risk training in agricultural enterprises in 2016 compared to 45% in 2013. Close to 20% of all vulnerable households received social protection services such as subsidized inputs and relief food. As concerns viability and equitability of commercialization of the Agricultural Sector, the initiative increased turnover value of traded agricultural commodities of the prioritized VC increased from the baseline of Ksh 495,247 to Ksh 2,858,396 in the year 2016. As at 2016, incomes for households headed by men, women and youth had increased by 78%, 25% and 15% respectively. Improvement in food security which was measured by proportion of households eating 3 meals per day was found to have increased slightly from 86.1% to 87.4% between 2014 and 2016 among ASDSP VCAs.

On-farm increase by 5% in both male and female headed households Food and nutrition increases by 10% in both male and female headed households Productivity for major food commodities increase by 10% by 2017 % increase in households who states that their response capacity to climate-related risks has improved, by gender and vulnerability Turnover from traded agricultural commodities increase by 10% by 2017 Public spending on agriculture as a percentage of GDP from the agriculture sector

Beneficiaries ; Source of original ideas, challenges and opportunities; participate in implementation and follow up; they provide resources; agents of peer learning; undertake joint evaluation and beneficiaries of continual improvement). Public (Policy makers National and county): Participate in visioning; concertizing the objectives and communicating joint vision; participate in resource mobilization; publicity and visibility; participate in mobilizing partners (Public and private) for the joint actions; documenting successes and challenges and triggering policy discussions to influence change; capacity building. Private (Non- State Actors, Faith based Organizations (FBOs), Community based Organizations (CBOs)): Leverage on expertise for planning and action; facilitate change; carry out the initiative and participate in joint monitoring; resource mobilization; peer learning; capacity building; networking Civil society: Advocacy for rights of marginalized; engage in policy dialogue; capacity building; networking.

The Value Chain methodology is an integrative and interactive approach involving soft and hard skills hence works better under a collaborative arrangement. Public and private partners as well as civil society were involved in all the intervention units. The beneficiaries identified their challenges and suggested solutions which were then moderated by experts to solve the issues The approach should be guided by a strong situational analysis to provide scoping of challenges and possible solutions The approach should be well institutionalized to enhance sustainability The VC approach is quite a tedious process that need time to realize its goals. It is a competitive process that may favour the resource endowed hence participation of the poor and vulnerable comes with an additional facilitative support. Well executed, the approach creates demand at every node and may provide opportunities for all regardless of gender.