Boosting small-scale agriculture without emphasis on owning title deeds

When considering introduction of the technology to farmers, policies must be put in place to hedge against the potential production risk associated with it.

There is an emerging market for insurance services available to farmers in different farming activities in the country and it is slowly picking up.

Given the thin insurance coverage in the country, this is perhaps possible through the introduction of safety nets to cover against such risks of crop failure or even livestock death.

While introducing new technologies, it is important to consider unique household and regional factors that may impede realisation of the intended objectives.

In many instances, one-size fits all may not apply because individual farmers and regions have different characteristics which influence sustainable utilisation of land and land-based resources.

To promote rural development using available land resources, land use planning is critical in order to ensure that each land is put to appropriate use and fragile ecosystems are protected.

It is necessary to promote participatory management of land-based resources and benefit-sharing to promote protection of resources.

There is need to make deliberate efforts to reclaim degraded land as well as to protect genetic resources and biodiversity.

This will necessitate establishment of a proper land information management system.

Dr Omiti and Mr Ogada are policy analysts with the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra), jmomiti@kippra.or.ke or mogada@kippra.or.ke