The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has announced plans to train farmers on the Kenya Integrated Agriculture Management Information System (KIAMIS), a sensitization program on a new digital platform that will be used by farmers to acquire farm inputs and mechanization services at subsidized costs.
KIAMIS is a farmer data and digitization platform to support the Government’s Agricultural Transformation. FAO Representative to Kenya Ms Carla Mucavi noted that data and digitization of service delivery are critical enablers of the transformation of food systems for the realization of food and nutrition security.
“FAO through its Land Governance Program has supported the government in the digitization of land records, and we are doing the same with the KIAMIS,” she said.
Pilot area
According to Mucavi, North Rift Region remains the source of food and nutrition, hence its identification to pilot the KIAMIS. FAO has provided capacity-building training to agricultural and ICT officers from State Departments in the ministry of agriculture, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), and those from Uasin Gishu and Nyandarua counties on the system.
According to the coordinator, National Value Chain Support Programme Joseph Komo, KIAMIS once handed over to the government will enable the registration of farmers into a comprehensive central farmer registry, and be very effective in rolling out subsidy programs.
Currently, the government has rolled out an e-voucher subsidy programme through the National Value Chain Support Programme for maize, rice, Irish potato and coffee farmers in 12 counties. Through the programme farmers are able to get farm inputs at 60 percent of the cost while the government pays 40% for them. Currently, 6,653 farmers in Uasin Gishu County have been registered under the E-Voucher subsidy programme.
Uasin Gishu County Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno said that the KIAMIS system will help the government distinguish between real farmers and ghost farmers.
“This system will assist in government interventions in agriculture. The E-Voucher system will help farmers to purchase farm inputs after selling their produce, making farming a manageable venture. This system targets all farmers,” he said.
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