Kenya's Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has endorsed precision farming as the country's central response to an El Niño cycle that officials warn could again disrupt maize, bean and wheat output across East Africa.

The Deputy President made the call at the Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit, a forum that drew farm leaders, county officials and input suppliers around one question: how to defend Kenya's food balance sheet when seasonal rainfall grows less predictable. People Daily first reported the endorsement.

What precision farming means on a Kenyan smallholding

In East African conditions, precision farming generally refers to:

• Soil testing before planting to match fertilizer blends to identified nutrient gaps
• Variable-rate fertilizer application using plot-level data rather than uniform broadcast
• Drought-tolerant or early-maturing seed selection tied to seasonal forecasts
• Targeted drip or supplementary irrigation on high-value blocks
• Digital advisory services that time planting to forecast rainfall windows

Kenyan smallholders, who plant the bulk of the country's maize on plots under five hectares, face a structural barrier. Capital costs for soil testing, GPS-guided application and weather-linked digital platforms run ahead of what most household budgets can carry. Summit participants examined whether subsidies, cooperative bulk-buying or county-level service hubs can absorb those fixed costs.

How El Niño resets the input decision

El Niño cycles in the Horn of Africa typically bring erratic onset rains, mid-season dry spells and localized flooding. Kenya's maize balance sheet has historically tightened under those conditions, with the Strategic Food Reserve dipping below comfortable cover thresholds and millers turning to import parity. For a grower weighing fertilizer cost against an uncertain yield response, the incentive to spread input dollars across smaller, better-monitored acreage — rather than broadcast at traditional rates — rises sharply.

County agricultural officers at the summit flagged soil-test-and-recommendation services as the lowest-cost entry point. Their argument: a single baseline test can redirect fertilizer spend from fields already saturated with phosphorus to plots with documented nitrogen deficits.

What changes for input suppliers and cooperatives

For fertilizer blenders and seed houses, a precision-farming pivot reshapes product mix. Demand shifts from bulk blends toward smaller, plot-sized packages and from generic hybrids toward drought-tolerant or early-maturing varieties marketed with seasonal-forecast guidance. Cooperatives with bulking and last-mile distribution capacity stand to capture more of the value chain if they pair input sales with advisory service.

Where the policy lands next

Whether the Deputy President's backing translates into measurable change on farm will depend on the budget the Treasury sets aside for soil testing and digital advisory rollout in the coming financial year, and on whether county governments allocate extension staff to the precision-farming workstream rather than generic input subsidy distribution.