CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
Remarks
by
PROF. NJUGUNA NDUNG’U
GOVERNOR
CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
OONN ““RREEVVOOLLUUTTIIOONNIISSIINNGG FFIINNAANNCCEE FFOORR AAGGRRIICCUULLTTUURRAALL VVAALLUUEE
CCHHAAIINNSS””
KKeennyyaa SScchhooooll ooff MMoonneettaarryy SSttuuddiieess,, NNaaiirroobbii
TTuueessddaayy,, 1155tthh JJuullyy 22001144

His Excellency, Hon. William Ruto, Deputy President of the
Republic of Kenya;
Her Excellency, Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for
Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission;
Hon. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, Minister for Agriculture and
Rural Development, Nigeria;
Mr. Henry Rotich, Cabinet Secretary for The National Treasury;
Mr. Felix Koskei, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and
Fisheries;
Honourable Ministers;
Ambassadors;
Development Partners;
Fellow Governors and Deputy Governors of Central Banks;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:
It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the Central Bank of
Kenya, the Kenya School of Monetary Studies and on my own
behalf, to welcome you to Nairobi and to this Conference on
“Revolutionalizing finance for agricultural value chains”.
I would, like, first of all, to recognize the role of the Technical
Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation for African
Caribbean and Pacific countries (CTA) in bringing together the
stakeholders in agricultural and development finance to discuss
this highly important development agenda.
The Conference seeks to share experiences on innovative models of
financing agricultural value chains and to further explore
opportunities and challenges in expanding financial inclusion

to rural households. The objective of this conference is very much
in line with the development goal of promoting inclusive growth
and the facilitative role of the financial sector in achieving this
goal. The presence of His Excellency, the Deputy President of the
Republic of Kenya in this opening ceremony, goes to show the
commitment of the Kenyan Government to the inclusive finance
and growth objective.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen; Evidence shows that
much of the gains in growth experienced in Africa in recent
decades have largely been driven by efficiency gains and not due
to new investments in the productive sectors. Achieving the
growth targets envisioned in our national development objectives
such as Vision 2030, would therefore require unlocking the
bottlenecks to growth. These include among others, increasing
savings and investment; improving the business environment;
closing the infrastructure gaps; reducing telecommunications
costs; and formalizing the informal sector.
In the last few years, Kenya has made great strides in unlocking
some of these bottlenecks in the financial sector. Innovations in
technology that enable ICT-empowered financial services
platform coupled with conducive regulations have led to a large
proportion of the previously unbanked population to be
mainstreamed in the formal banking system. Central banks in
the region are committed to improving access to financial services
and products to a much larger number of individuals and small

businesses because it is good for management of both monetary
policy and the stability of the financial system.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen; the overall objective of
this Conference is to promote the development of smallholder and
agri-business inclusive finance. To this effect, the Conference
brings together:
1. Financial institutions to learn about innovative financial
tools and products;
2. Farmers organisations that will help solve their members’
financial challenges;
3. Central banks, Ministries of Finance, agriculture and other
government agencies seeking to discover how to develop and
strengthen an enabling environment, that will enhance
financial access and unlock agricultural growth in their
respective countries;
4. ICT developers willing to showcase their agri-finance
innovations and build a strategic network;
5. Development practitioners and the academia who will share
their experiences, get acquainted with new developments
and challenges, and strike new partnerships.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen: Banks all over the world
are concerned with risk mitigation and appropriately pricing
these risks. This is more pervasive in the agricultural sector. This
forum seeks to address these issues by sharing experiences of
innovations that are aiding banks, insurance companies

and other financial institutions to safely reach out to such sectors
and sub-sectors in sustainable ways. This is the model we would
like to learn and enact in our economies.
With these remarks, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honour and
duty to once again welcome you all to the Kenya School of
Monetary Studies, and to our international guests, we feel very
honoured to host you. I now wish to invite the Chairman of
AFRACA to give his remarks.
Thank you.