Nairobi: Kenya has been urged to strengthen private sector capacity, coordination, and financing to ensure effective implementation of the National Agri-Food Systems Investment Plan (NASIP) 2026-2030. Speaking during a panel discussion at the 6th National Agribusiness Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi Wednesday, experts said successful implementation of the five-year investment plan would require closer coordination among government, private sector, farmers, counties, and development partners.
According to Kenya News Agency, Agatha Thuo, Chief Executive Officer of the Agriculture Sector Network (ASNET), emphasized that the private sector was a key actor in implementing NASIP but needed to be better organized and equipped to take advantage of opportunities under the plan. She called for mapping of private sector actors at the county level, including cooperatives and farmer producer organizations, to identify gaps and strengthen coordination.
Thuo highlighted the need to organize private sector actors in the counties and stressed the necessity of capacity building to enable businesses to understand and participate in investment opportunities provided under NASIP. She noted that the private sector was broad, including farmers, food suppliers, logistics companies, and technology firms, and that fragmentation among actors remained a challenge.
Thuo further called on development partners to support private sector capacity building, emphasizing that business associations and other private sector actors also required resources to effectively coordinate their activities. Dr. Sophia Baumert, an agri-policy programme manager at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), stated that development partners should use their resources strategically to mobilize additional public and private investment rather than replace it.
Baumert pointed out that fragmented, project-based financing could increase transaction costs and inefficiencies, adding that NASIP provides an opportunity to coordinate investments, implementation, budgeting, and monitoring around a common national framework. She stressed the importance of governance and coordination in ensuring that investments under NASIP translate into measurable results.
Dr. Jedidah Wanjagi, a Public Financial Management Specialist at Expertise Global, said financing remained a major challenge for agricultural transformation and called for financial mechanisms that recognize the production cycles and risks faced by farmers. She highlighted the need for farmers to become more bankable while financial institutions should develop financing arrangements that are better suited to agricultural production cycles.
Concerns over post-harvest losses, climate-related risks, insurance costs, and the ability of farmers to service loans under conventional repayment arrangements were also raised. The panel moderator, Paul Gamba, an Agricultural and Rural Development Policy Expert, said the discussion was aimed at identifying practical measures for moving NASIP from planning to implementation.
The discussion also emphasized the need to involve young people in the implementation of NASIP. Responding to concerns from youth participants, Thuo mentioned that ASNET had held a pre-summit youth webinar and was working with partners on incubation, commercialization, and capacity-building opportunities for young people in agribusiness.
She encouraged youth to organize themselves at county and grassroots levels to create a stronger platform for participation in the agricultural sector. The panel also heard calls for farmers to be regarded as investors and for counties to explore economic blocs that could help aggregate commodities and make agricultural infrastructure more economically viable.
NASIP 2026-2030 is Kenya’s national investment framework for transforming the agri-food system and mobilizing investment across the sector. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development indicates that the plan seeks to mobilize KSh1.08 trillion in financing by 2030 and is aligned with Kenya’s commitments under the African Union’s Kampala CAADP Declaration.
The panel was held during the 6th National Agribusiness Summit, taking place at KICC from September 9 to 11 under the theme, ‘From Policy to Prosperity: Fixing Kenya’s Agribusiness Ecosystem for Investment, Innovation and Inclusive Growth.
