By IMMACULATE KARAMBU ikarambu@ke.nationmedia.com

The European Union will fund Kenya's agricultural sector to the tune of Sh7.8 billion over the next three years.

The funding will boost the dairy, horticultural and tea sectors, and will be released to Kenya under the All Agricultural Commodities Programme (ACP) that the EU finances. Agriculture permanent secretary Romano Kiome said the funds will be shared out between his ministry and that of Livestock Development. â€Å"We have not been very keen on commodity priority areas because of lack of mechanisms to prioritise the sectors and the tendency to include all types of farmers at the expense of prioritisation,â€Â� said Dr Kiome

Horticulture and tea have remained Kenya's key sources of foreign exchange, through export mainly to Europe and the Middle East. The dairy industry, on the other hand, has been fledgling as a result of policy shift and good growth of the market attributed to milk processing firms.

The funds are expected to boost productivity in the sector, with a trickle down effect on the entire economy. The ACP was launched in September 2007 as an initiative of the EU. Its secretariat deals mainly with commodity issues through innovative approaches.

â€Å"Results which have been achieved include increased commercialisation of the cassava sector in Zambia and Malawi, institutional and infrastructure development for warehouse inventory credit in Tanzania and increased capacity for coffee certification and verification in Uganda, Burundi and Zimbabwe,â€Â� notes an implementation report. Of the initial funding, Sh5.8 billion, 27 per cent, was directed to programmes in East Africa, where Kenya's cotton sector was a beneficiary.