Government steps up use of science, innovation to enhance food security
ESTHER MWANGI-KNA
The Government is stepping up efforts to harness science, technology, and innovation (STI) to boost food security and strengthen resilience against climate change.
Principal Secretary (PS) for Science, Research, and Innovation, Prof. Abdulrazak Shaukat, said the government has unveiled five key shifts to drive progress.
These include focusing on national agricultural missions, ensuring research delivers practical solutions, building strong talent pipelines, strengthening partnerships, and blending public and private financing to commercialize innovations.
The PS cited renewable energy innovations such as solar, wind, biofuel, hydropower, and geothermal energy, which, together with community-based initiatives like reforestation and innovative waste management systems, could greatly help protect land, water, and vegetation.
These efforts, he added, could ensure a healthier environment that serves as the foundation for transforming agri-food systems.
He noted that before, during, and after natural disasters, technology and innovation facilitate anticipatory and responsive actions, build resilience, and advance rural transformation—ultimately ensuring a better life for smallholders and vulnerable communities.
Prof. Shaukat, who was speaking during the Kenya National Research Festival (KNRF) held at Egerton University in Njoro, said agriculture sector remained a key employer, with the potential for youth engagement through innovative technologies and practices such as digital farming, agro-processing, and sustainable agriculture.
Exhibitions and research presentations made during the Kenya National Research Festival (KNRF), revolved around ways and means of addressing food security and nutrition, climate change challenges, affordable housing, health, economic resilience, and technological adoption in the country.
Prof. Shaukat urged stakeholders participating in the research festival to move beyond “projects” and instead focus on bold missions that could turn research into real-world solutions.
He said Food security was not only about avoiding hunger, but was about dignity, competitiveness, and creating opportunities for all farmers and innovators.
“When a farmer in Makueni doubles yields with drought-tolerant seeds, or when youth use solar cold-chains to cut post-harvest losses, that is research with impact,” he stated.
The PS added that youth-led initiatives, such as mobile apps for agricultural advice, precision farming using drones and sensors, and e-commerce platforms for agricultural products, were reshaping farming and offering new pathways to economic empowerment.
Top scholars who led the Second Edition of the five-day festival, hailed the role of scientific research and innovations in offering solutions to contemporally and global challenges, including food security, nutrition, waste management and climate change.
To deal with the issue of food security, the scholars highlighted the importance of looking beyond policy actions to innovation.
In his presentation, National Research Fund (NRF) Chief Executive Officer Prof. Dickson Andala, indicated that for Kenya to realize its ambitions on food security, a deliberate investment in technology, which facilitates access to relevant data, markets and financial services, was critical.
Prof. Andala said if properly harnessed research and innovation would enable agriculture to meet the United Nations’ SDG number two of ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.
This in turn could be the engine that fuels rural development, improves resilience to climate change, grows employment opportunities, and ultimately grows the economy, added the don.
Prof. Andala pointed out climate change, today, was the single biggest threat to finding a solution to food security in Africa, adding that it will only be through an integrated approach, harnessing local innovations and technology to build resilience to the impact of climate change, that African countries would develop a sustainable green revolution.
Reports released in 2024 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations show that an estimated 10.7 per cent of the global population, that is 864 million people, were food insecure.
Africa shouldered 58 per cent of these people. In Eastern Africa, the number is even higher as the number of food-insecure people has increased by 50 million since 2019, the Report further indicated.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Regional Focus of the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises reveals that about 63 million people, or 25 per cent of the population in seven IGAD countries, are experiencing acute food insecurity in 2024.
The Sub-region is home to more than 50 per cent of Africa's chronically hungry, yet its population share in Africa is barely 25 per cent.
Amidst these challenges, the NRF Chief Executive Officer said technology and innovation harbored tools that could accelerate the transformation of agri-food systems in the Sub-region, by making them more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, leading to better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all.
“The role of technology and innovation in revitalizing agriculture is emerging as a beacon of hope, offering new solutions to build resilience, improve productivity, and ensure food security and nutrition,” he stated.
Professor Andala elaborated that from drought-resistant seeds to smart irrigation systems, data-driven decision-making tools, drones, and satellite imagery, technological advancements could unlock new possibilities for farmers, herders, and food processors to achieve better production in both terrestrial and marine resources, without compromising nature.