Attract great minds to agriculture
"We sleep on cotton bedcovers, have milk and cereals for breakfast, sit on leather chairs in our offices, put on woolen suits and get energized daily by food all from agriculture!". These are not the exact words but is the sense of what Kenya's deputy police spokesperson Mr.Charles Owino said recently. He was among the presenters in a brainstorming session on "Food Security and Transformation of Agriculture in Kenya." Has it ever occurred to you that food security goes hand in hand with general security?
Law enforcement is crucial to food security. One tends to realize the crucial role of the police only when one gets robbed or mugged. The same applies to the importance of farmers during famine episodes. Unfortunately, for Africa and most developing countries, both the agricultural sector and law enforcement systems have been relegated to illiterates and school dropouts! I was very moved by the police officer's passionate plea to Kenyans to ensure that the police force gets reformed to attract the best of the minds!
Who should feed the over 1 billion people faced with hunger and malnutrition globally? The first line of defence against hunger ought to be investment in up-scaling knowledge from and to farmers. Agricultural stewardship must focus on knowledge transfer to farmers just as automotive driving calls for trained drivers.
James Shikwati
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