Icpak wants more cash to agriculture

By MACHARIA KAMAU Standard Media |

Counties continue to starve agriculture of funds despite the sector being key to the economies of many of the devolved units.

A new report by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Icpak) notes that counties on average allocated 6.7 per cent of their budgets to agriculture, generally underfunding the sector that is responsible for most residents’ livelihoods.

The accountants want the requirements of the Maputo Declaration, which requires countries to allocate at least 10 per cent of their annual budgets to agriculture, mirrored by the counties.

“The Maputo Declaration should be cascaded to counties if meaningful development were to be realised. The exception would only be given to urban counties where agriculture is not the main priority economic development activity,” the report said.

“However, a quick scan of these allocations paints a picture of non-compliance with the declaration especially in counties perceived to rely on agriculture as their mainstay activity.”

Icpak also wants the national government to give up some of the functions that should be handled by the counties, noting that this was partly to blame for the underfunding of agriculture.

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