Cooperatives can help in increasing agriculture yields

According to the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro), the Kenyan coffee farmer produces a paltry 2-3kg per tree, against a potential of over 30kg.

In “The Age of Diminishing Expectations (1994)”, Paul Krugman writes: “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.

A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.” Therein cooperatives, with their 14-plus million members, hold the catalyst to catapult Kenya into the next level of productivity but farmers face many challenges.

Agricultural cooperatives could help improve farm sustainability by supporting farmers—for example through farmer field schools—to change their agricultural practices by adopting more sustainable and higher yield-achieving approaches.

The positive role of farmer field schools in improving agricultural productivity is demonstrable. In 2010, an evaluation by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) documented improved crop productivity; production and income increased as a result of participation in farmer field schools. The results were astounding.

In Kenya, crop productivity increased by 80 per cent, and in Uganda, livestock production for participating women increased by a whopping 187 per cent, which emphasises the importance of managing productivity through agricultural cooperatives.

There are other things cooperatives could do through their aggregating capacity to support farmers’ productivity. Instead of each smallholder farmer buying their own machinery, the cooperative could to do that more affordably. Farmers can then channel these savings into increased spending on fertilisers and animal feed leading to higher yields.

Among the key drivers to productivity is innovation and technology adoption, managerial skills, farm size, investment in research, policy and environmental factors. First, innovation and adoption of efficient technologies are proven ways to reducing input costs, including saving on labour, reducing input waste, and reducing post-harvest loses.

Secondly, the skills of on-farm managers help to optimize farm-level solutions as well as in drawing from the array of strategies when faced with risks.

Thirdly, farm size—but problematic for Kenya—plays a particularly important role. It spreads the fixed costs like management skills and machinery ownership, hence generating more output. Look at it this way, a larger farm increases the ‘economies of scale.’ This is not to say that small farms cannot be highly productive, that is academic!

Fourth, investing in research and development eventually yields dividends. In Australia, for example, research shows that for every $1 invested in agricultural research and development, there is nearly an eight-fold return for farmers over a 10-year period.

Fifth, creating an enabling policy framework that allows, for instance, land amalgamation, better risk management, and removal of any price distortionary forces like ubiquitous middlemen. Lastly, Kenya’s agricultural systems are heavily rain-fed. Thus, the farmer must adjust to environmental factors that alter rain patterns. Seasonal variations in temperature, rainfall and other conditions all affect farm productivity.

None of these key contributors precludes the active involvement of agricultural cooperatives. The government must work with cooperatives as partners in its effort to attain a secure food-sustainable future.

Prof Nyamongo, an anthropologist and Fulbright Scholar is deputy vice-chancellor at The Cooperative University of Kenya. [email protected]. @Prof_IKNyamongo