Reflections from my visits in Kenya

I’ve had an amazing week in Kenya covering everything from flower farms and avocados, to a macadamia factory and a secondary school. I’ve had meetings with agricultural consultants and entrepreneurs, journalists, food policy bodies and not to mention some spectacular game drives taking in some of the beautiful wildlife this country has to offer.

I’ve learnt that Kenya has some of the most beautiful woodland I’ve ever seen and incredibly fertile soils, which lend themselves to being a major producer in everything from roses and avocados, to pineapples and tea.

However, I was told that Kenya imports around 60% of its food, despite having the potential to be 100% self-sufficient, plus room for exports. I’ve been hearing about real problems with post-harvest losses of around 30% due to lack of storage facilities and market access, which is a difficult pill to swallow against a backdrop of extreme levels of poverty and hunger.

There is major work ongoing to tackle this and the Government’s own agricultural agenda is tasked with encouraging more young people to work in the agricultural sector and transform its food systems.

The connection of individuals to the land here is immense, the majority of people grow their own food, however seeing agriculture as a valuable career is a challenge amongst the youth that account for the majority of the population. The phrase I kept hearing was, ‘my parents worked hard in farming so I could get an education and find a job in the city.’

There are however some amazing individuals and organisations who have tasked themselves with empowering and supporting young people to pursue a career in agriculture, as well as improving agri output & market access through digital platforms. They are changing the farming narrative to one which embraces digital innovation & offers an exciting and valuable career. I’m so excited to share some of these inspiring stories in my upcoming podcast.

One of my major take-aways is the hunger for knowledge that exists here to improve farming practices and drive change from the ground-up. A clear example being a turnout of 1500 people to a farm open day in Meru at Kisima Farms, discussing everything from better soil management to the highest performing seed varieties. The potential for farming transformation here is abundant to see and I feel extremely privileged to have met some of the individuals who are leading this change.