While Kenya has an area of roughly 582,646 square kilometres (58,264,600 hectares), “only 20 percent of the land surface can support rain-fed agriculture (medium to high potential). About 75 percent of the country’s population lives in these areas, with population densities as high as 2,000 per square kilometre in some parts”. Further, even within this narrow arable area, the distribution of land is inequitable, for “more than half of the nation’s arable land is in the hands of only 20 percent of the population.” Such was the situation in 2006. By 2016, according to the World Bank, just 10 per cent of Kenya’s land was arable.
After doing research on farming on the said 80 percent of arid land, 50 percent of that land can be very effective if rehabilitated with modern farming technology. But as someones always, waafrika ni wavivu.
Well, we’ve county governments now. This brought to an end the many narratives of marginalization from Central Gov’t.
8yrs down the line, i’d love to see what Policies counties have, in respect to Agriculture, industrialization, Land reclamation, water distribution, health care and employment.
Thats is the reason we continue to buy food from our neighbors TZ because the proportion of land under farming is relatively small compared to that of our neighbors. But we will need to find a way to use all that idle land in the north and east, and southern regions
what power? lets say, part of former turkana provinces’ 500,000 acres of land is under large scale farming, how will that shift power? This is one of our politicians thinking at the moment.
The politicians and billionaires have interests and investments in Nairobi and people moving to any other part will make their overpriced property worthless. Also if Nairobi is powerless the national government is also powerless