Real estate developer to extend portfolio into agriculture

Kiambu is one of the counties that has been affected negatively by real estate development as farmers ditch coffee for rental property. This is one of the reasons behind the government’s aggressive move to revitalise the coffee sector with initiatives such as the cherry fund.

Mr Arora said sustainability has become pivotal in all the developer’s projects which has now necessitated venturing into agriculture. “We are focusing a lot on sustainability. Every home that you buy from Superior Homes now comes with a full solar and battery backup that can last for 12 to 18 hours. That focus on sustainability will set us apart,” he said.

He said a lot of real estate development in the country also means that land that was previously being used for agriculture ultimately gets repurposed and houses put up. “We have taken the decision that we are going to be replacing every acre of housing with agricultural farmland,” he said. “We are exploring a really big 300-acre parcel of land that we can start to slowly farm.”

“It is not going to make us any money,” said Mr Arora. “But as long as it doesn’t lose any (money) and continues to replace the areas that we have put houses and previously employed people through agriculture then that will support this economy.”

Agriculture, together with forestry and fishing recorded the most growth in 2023 at 6.5 per cent recovering from a contraction of 1.5 per cent in 2022. Real estate recorded a growth of 7.3 per cent in the same period.

Real estate’s share of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 8.4 per cent while agriculture stands at 21.8 per cent.

Superior Homes Managing Director and Founder Ian Henderson venturing into agribusiness is in line with where the world is going in terms of sustainability.

“I haven’t heard of any developer doing the same. Maybe it is a world’s first,” he said.

He said the plan is to develop 10 acres of land that was previously not productive agricultural land for every 10 acres of housing units. Mr Henderson said this is meant to send a signal and be a talking point as well among real estate players in the country on how sustainability can be approached.

He said they seek to get best practices from business partners as they seek to stimulate some commercial viability of the venture.

“We probably won’t make any money but we are not a humanitarian organisation either. If we do not make any money, then how do we pay salaries? We do not want to lose any money; that’s for sure,” he said.