An Overview of Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Blue Economy
The department of Agriculture, Livestock and Blue Economy comprises of four directorates of Agriculture, Livestock production, Veterinary services and Fisheries development. Each of the directorates has its own functions to perform but all geared towards one vision of making Baringo County a food secure healthy and wealthy County anchored in vibrant, innovative and competitive agricultural sector. The department also has two semi-autonomous institutions; Agricultural Mechanization Services (AMS Marigat) and Agricultural Training Services (ATC Koibatek)
Vision
A food secure, healthy and wealthy county for sustainable socio-economic development
Mission.
To improve the livelihoods of Baringo people through sustainable management of crop and livestock resources and utilization of the blue economy and sustainable land management.
Department Mandate
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To increase crop, livestock, fish production and productivity through appropriate technologies for food security
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To increase market access through promotion of value addition, sustainable supply chains and development of standards along the value chains;
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To prevent and control crop, livestock, fish pests and diseases
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To enhance community resilience through climate change adaptation innovations
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To develop institutional and legal framework and increase participation of stakeholders in the sector
Budget Expenditure, Trends and Analysis for Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Blue Economy
Baringo County Government remains the largest funder of agricultural projects. Development partners such as National government and other stakeholders also played a role in funding the sector. In FY 2022-2023 the department was allocated 10.8% of the total County’s Budget.
In the 2022-2023 FY the department of Agriculture, Livestock and Blue Economy was allocated KES 549,873,869 for development and KES 241,620,032 for staff emoluments and KES 14,869,781 for operation and maintenance.
The operations and maintenance budget for the department remains very low for the department to operate optimally and deliver agricultural extension services to farmers for increased agricultural productivity. However, in the first supplementary of 2022-2023 FY, the Department was allocated KES 676,176,330 for development, KES 27,669,781 for operation and maintenance and KES 229,297,410 for personal emoluments for executive, permanent and pensionable employees, casual and contractual employees. Agriculture Training Centre (ATC) was allocated KES. 5,000,000 and Agriculture Mechanization station AMS) KES 3,000,000 for operation and maintenance in the first budget supplementary of 2022-2023 FY.
The absorption of development funds in FY2022-2023 has improved by 12.5% compared to FY2021-2022.