Kagwe Calls Out Farm Credit Gap as Kenya Unveils KES 1.25 Trillion Plan to Finance Agriculture
Kenya has used the 2026 World Food Forum in Rome to highlight a stubborn imbalance in how its farmers are financed. Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the sector accounts for 25 percent of the country’s GDP, yet receives only about 3 percent of commercial bank lending.
Kagwe said the contribution of farming is even larger when its backward and forward linkages are counted. Including activities such as input supply, processing and trade, agriculture drives up to 50 percent of the economy. He described the low level of credit as a long-standing handicap that has held back productivity and rural incomes.
To address the gap, the government is rolling out the KES 1.25 trillion National AgriFood Systems Investment Plan (NASIP). The plan seeks to mobilise public, private and blended capital across crops, livestock, fisheries and agribusiness value chains. Officials say the goal is to bring in long-term investment where lenders have traditionally been cautious.
Getting money to the ground is the next challenge. The government plans to scale up the farmer-owned SACCO model, which has a proven record of reaching smallholders who often struggle to meet conventional bank requirements. SACCOs are expected to play a larger role in channelling affordable credit to farmers and their groups.
Technology will support the effort. Kenya is promoting AI-driven credit scoring, which can assess a farmer’s creditworthiness using data beyond traditional collateral. It is also backing precision farming and farm-to-fork traceability, tools meant to lower lending risk and improve transparency along the value chain.
Kagwe stressed that farmers remain at the centre of the new approach. He said the transformation starts and ends with them, with government acting as an enabler. Private sector partners, he added, are expected to power markets built on local value addition and fair, transparent pricing.
The announcement signals a push to match agriculture’s economic weight with the financing it receives. If the plan delivers, officials believe more capital will reach farmers, strengthen production and keep more value within Kenya’s rural economy.
