Kenya
-- Agriculture
Kenya's
economy is heavily dependent on agriculture.
75% of Kenyans make their living from
farming, producing both for local
consumption and for export. Though
its population is high in proportion
to its area, Kenya is counted among
Africa countries whose food production
has kept pace with its population
growth. In recent times, only in 1984,
a year of drought, was a deficit in
food production registered.
Agriculture,
when defined so as to include fishing,
forestry and ranching, made up about
30% of GDP and 19% of wage employment
in the formal sector in 1996. It is
estimated that agriculture's share
of informal-sector jobs is even higher,
although data are unavailable. Agriculture
brings in over 6% of foreign exchange
earnings and provides raw materials
for Kenya's agro-industries, which
account for about 70% of all its industrial
production. Over 50% of export revenue
continues to be derived from primary
products, notably tea, coffee, sisal,
pyrethrum, sugar cane, wheat, and
cotton. Only 15% of Kenya's total
land area is sufficiently fertile
to be farmed, and only 7% can be classified
as first class land. Most of the northern
region is semi-arid. As the desert
encroaches from the north, pressure
is mounting for Kenya to implement
reforestation plans and to maximize
productivity in existing farms.[1]
There
have been a number of significant
changes in government policies governing
land ownership since independence
that have afffected agriculture. When
the policy of reserving land for white
settlers was legally ended in 1959,
much desirable farmland was transferred
to Africans. Today Kenya recognizes
three broad types of land tenure:
government land, trust land, and private
or freehold land. Trust land makes
up 73% of the total land area. The
rights to make use of trust lands
are held by individual families, but
disposal rights are held by tribes,
whose elders must approve inheritance.
Trust lands are gradually being converted,
however, into freehold lands under
an adjudication and registration program
introduced in 1956.
Most
of the land of high or medium potential
for farming lies in the Western Highlands,
around Lake Victoria and Mount Kenya,
and along the coast. The five districts
of Central Province, Kisii District
in Nyanza Province and the Embu and
Meru Districts in Eastern Province
also are developed for intensive cultivation.
On traditional farms, Kenyans continue
to work the land using ancient subsistance
methods. Irrigation projects have
been limited, totaling about 11,735
hectares/ 29,000 acres. These projects
are mainly located in the Yala Swamp
and Kano Plain in West and in the
upper and lower Tana River basins.
Maize is Kenya's principal staple
crop, with legumes falling in second
place.
Kenya
is only able to supply about 70% of
its demand for wheat; an increasing
demand for bread, especially in urban
areas, has put strain on the country's
economy since the cultivation of wheat
has an 80% foreign exchange content
compared with 50% for maize. Millet,
cassava, and sorghum are also important
crops. Tea has emerged as Kenya's
most important cash crop after a decades-long
competition with coffee; its primacy
has largely been the result of improved
production by small farmers. Kenya
now produces more tea than any country
in the world except India and China.
Coffee continues to be an important
export, though relatively less land
(about 3%) is used to cultivate it.
Kenya's ability to export coffee was
long limited by an export quota system.
When this system was abandoned in
July 1989 and control over the production
and marketing of coffee taken away
from the Coffee Board of Kenya (CBK)
in October 1992, Kenya greatly increased
coffee sales. The coffee History
is now liberalized in several ways.
Dealers
can now transact their business in
US dollars. Farmers are free to sell
their coffee outside the central market.
The number of licensed marketing agents
has markedly increased.
Kenya
ranks second in the world in the production
of sisal and fourth in the export
of cut flowers. The country supplies
almost 70% of global demand for pyrethrum.
Other agricultural exports include
cashew nuts, fruits and vegetables.
Agricultural goods are now Kenya's
third largest merchandise export.
Beef
and dairy cattle are also important
to Kenya's agricultural economy. Kenya
has one of the most developed dairy
industries in Sub-Saharan Africa,
with an annual milk production of
some 2 billion liters. The fishing
History handled 121,984 tons of fish
in 1987, mostly fresh water fish caught
in Lake Victoria[2]
.
[1] Uwechue,
Ralph (ed.) 1996. Africa Today,
Third Edition, Africa Books
Limited,
pp.866-867.
[2] Uwechue,
Ralph (ed.) 1996. Africa Today,
Third Edition, Africa Books
Limited,
pp.867-868.
Resources researched
by
Abdelaziz Marhoum, & David A. Samper
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