New policy to protect farmland

Kenya: The Government plans to create new areas to settle farmers and consolidate agricultural land to boost food production.

The move is a reaction to concerns that productive land, particularly in coffee and tea-growing areas, is being overly subdivided and being turned into real estate, contributing to food insecurity, among other economic imbalances in the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture’s policy, which was launched in Nairobi mid this month, will see sections in wards or locations earmarked for settlement.

MACHINERY USE

“The new policy advocates demarcation of ... areas for food production. We have of late witnessed the taking up of land by new constructions, mainly residential and commercial buildings, a trend likely to threaten food security in the country,” said Felix Koskei, who recently stepped aside as Agriculture Cabinet Secretary.

In the proposed scenario, Mr Koskei said land owners would still hold their title deeds and harvest produce from the consolidated parcels.

Land consolidation, he argued, would allow for better agronomic practices, including the use of machinery to ease farming and increase its attractiveness particularly to the youth.

“Consolidation will equally curtail further sub-division of agricultural land.”

The policy’s overall focus is to boost agricultural production in the context of sustainable development, protect wetland and riparian areas that provide important habitats for biodiversity, and maintain the ecosystem to protect indigenous flora and fauna, as well as water sources.

Rapid urbanisation

Analysts have in the past blamed the Government for lack of sound planning to protect agricultural land, even as it encouraged property developers to meet the housing demands of a surging population. Large-scale infrastructure developments, such as roads and railway lines, have also taken up a chunk of productive land.

And while in counties like Kiambu, Murang’a and Nyeri upcoming gated communities and commercial hubs have been said to contribute to decongesting Nairobi, they could lead to the country’s share of the international tea and coffee market dipping.

Already, in the last two decades, the area under coffee has decreased from 170,000 hectares to 110,000 hectares, decreasing production.

Koskei added that the country is urbanising rapidly, which has seen property near urban centres being snapped up by private developers.

“Settling villagers in identified sections of wards will increase efficiency in provision of social amenities, like electricity, water, access roads, health facilities, planned housing, disposal of sewerage and better waste management,” he said.

“Most importantly, there will be minimal degradation of rural agricultural land.”

Koskei added that communal land, because of its fragility and with most of it being arid or semi-arid, would benefit from the same policy direction recommended for private land in raid-fed areas, except that it would be much easier to set up settlements.

Reliable rainfall

Kenya has an area of about 587,000 square kilometres, of which 11,000 square kilometres is water. Of the landmass, only about 16 per cent is of high and medium agricultural potential, with adequate and reliable rainfall.

This arable land is dominated by commercial agriculture, with cropland occupying 31 per cent. Grazing land occupies 30 per cent and forests 22 per cent. The rest of the land, 17 per cent, is under human settlement and game parks.