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Geography, agriculture and the economy Agriculture is the backbone of the economy and principal source of livelihood for Kenya ’s poor people. Seven out of ten Kenyans cultivate crops, raise livestock or engage in fishing and forestry. The agricultural sector is plugged into global and regional markets, and the country is a world leader in the export of tea, coffee and horticultural products. The dairy sector is among the best developed in Africa, and the Kenya Highlands comprise one of the continent’s most successful agricultural production regions. For more than a decade, the horticultural sector has shown dynamic, sustained, market-driven growth. Smallholders produce about 80 per cent of horticulture exports. Agriculture and agro-related activities account for more than 50 per cent of GDP, generating employment for about 70 per cent of the population, 80 per cent of export earnings, 70 per cent of materials for agro-industrial production and a major share of government revenue. Since the early 1990s, the sector has seen major changes. The effects of the macroeconomic policies and related reforms of the 1980s, together with macroeconomic liberalization in the 1990s, put the country’s small-scale, resource-poor farmers at a disadvantage. Recurrent droughts and low international commodity prices for the principal agricultural exports, such as coffee, have contributed to difficulties in the sector. Poor financial management, inadequate rural infrastructure, HIV/AIDS and the absence of technology diffusion have also taken a heavy toll. Renewable natural resources Kenya is water-short by global standards. Only about 46 per cent of rural people have access to clean water. In recent decades, degradation of the natural resource base has intensified. The pace of deforestation, soil erosion and domestic and industrial pollution has quickened. The past three decades of overexploitation and encroachment have shrunk the country’s forest cover, now occupying only 2 per cent of the land. All of these factors have contributed to declining water catchment capacity and more severe flood and drought conditions. This, together with a growing population, means that per capita water availability in Kenya is only about one tenth that of the neighbouring East African countries of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Issues of environmental degradation – such as soil erosion, which makes land less productive and contributes to silt build-up in major reservoirs – affect the struggle to obtain water for agriculture. Access to water and soil fertility maintenance are critical for the livelihoods of rural poor people and are the key to development in Kenya. The country’s renewable natural resources constitute its main economic asset and the framework for both agricultural production and tourism, making environmental conservation a priority for sustainable rural development. Source: IFAD |
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