The World Bank has urged Kenya to focus on reviving the agricultural sector in order to reduce poverty.
Diarietou Gaye, World Bank Country Director for Kenya, made the call on Tuesday in Nairobi, during the launch of Kenya Country Economic Memorandum report, tagged: “From Growth to Jobs and Shared Prosperity.’’
She said that agriculture is the largest employer of labour in the country, adding that improvements in productivity would have huge impact in reducing poverty.
Gaye said that the report, published by the World Bank, analysed major sectors of the country’s economy and noted that reviving agriculture remains the pathway for poverty reduction.
“The report says Kenya’s growth model has been well-regarded for a number of reasons.
“The country has never sought or received debt relief, but has opted for better economic policy raising revenues, liberalizing trade and the forex market,’’ she said.
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Gaye noted that the report indicated that agriculture’s share in GDP declined from 26.5 per cent in 2006 to 22.0 per cent in 2014, while manufacturing stagnated at 11.8 percent of GDP on average during the same period.
She said that the performance of the agricultural sector was disappointing due to its vulnerability to weather shocks.
According to the country director, nations that lifted many people out of poverty relied on improving agricultural productivity.
She noted that Kenya on average allocates five per cent of its national budget to agriculture against the ten percent it committed.
“The report noted that improvements in agriculture will enable labour to transit to more productive sectors of the economy,’’ she said.
Gaye urged the government to prioritise agricultural development to enable the country create job opportunities for the growing working age population.
The Country Economic Memorandum is a strategic World Bank product that analyses key aspects of a country’s economic development with the main aim of providing an integrated and long-term perspective of the country’s development priorities.
