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Kenyan agriculture is characterized by low agricultural productivity in the midst of decreasing soil fertility. The population increase has been brought down from 4% to 2.4% per annum. Feeding of this increasing large population has been daunting especially when there have been frequent drought.

Kenyan agriculture is characterized by low agricultural productivity in the midst of decreasing soil fertility. The national average yield for maize is 1 tonne per hectare at commercial level.

Kenya happens to have one of the highest bank interest rates in the world. Commercial banks are charging interest rates above 30% for loans. This has generally impacted negatively on the promotion of mechanization in Kenya.

Mechanization is based on imported technology that is sourced from the West. The price of technology from the West rises with the fluctuation of the US dollar against local currency.

The mitigation for use of conservation tillage in Kenya is in reduced cost of production of staple food crops. It may result from considerably lower energy and labour input. In the medium to long term, it has been proved elsewhere in other countries that, applied adequately, contil leads to reduction in the need for agricultural inputs, including fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides.