Kenya has been grappling with the desert locust invasion for a while and the government seems to be at its wits end.
Unfortunately, this is the kind of situation that can very easily lead to a breakdown of the country's food systems.
In the past few years, the agricultural sector has been hopping from pit to ever-deeper pit. For instance, we have barely recovered from the recent fall armyworm scourge yet here we are, confronted with a plague of biblical proportions.
However, one cannot keep from wondering just how this crisis caught us flatfooted.
The elephant in the room is not the locust invasion per se; rather, this is just the unmasking of the soft underbelly of a deeply flawed agricultural system.
In a functioning system, one can anticipate such challenges and put in place mitigating measures. In the absence of a crisis, three broad sets of activities should characterise the working of the sector.
DEFENSIVE RESEARCH
First, breeding efforts need to be in place to ensure a steady and stable supply of elite breeding materials for farmers. These include high-yielding crop varieties as well as optimally productive animals.
Secondly, there is need for proper and complete value chains that ensure maximum profitability for farmers while guaranteeing the quality and affordability of produce to consumers.
Thirdly, and probably most important, there is a need for investment in forward-looking, defensive research aimed at addressing anticipated challenges.
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This is informed by the well-known fact that agricultural productivity is perpetually at risk of either abiotic or biotic challenges.
Using crops as an example, abiotic challenges refer to stresses not caused by living organisms - for example, drought, temperature extremes, poor soils and presence of toxic compounds such as salts in soil.
Biotic challenges result from living organisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, which cause diseases, as well as insects and worms that defoliate crops.
PROSPERITY
These threats are always lurking around the corner. If we maintain a reactive stance undergirded by blind faith and hope for the better, we are setting ourselves up for failure.
Agriculture is the most critical component of our country's economy, probably ranking in importance with national security.
So much so that our founding fathers saw it fit to immortalise this fact on our national flag. Without a robust agricultural sector, no other form of prosperity can be achieved.
So, we should frame the problem in its proper context and come up with appropriate long-term ways of safeguarding our agricultural sector and economy as a whole.
Dr Davis Gimode, peanut breeding and genetics expert, University of Georgia, USA.
