By Gift Briton
Nairobi County is finalizing a policy dedicated specifically to promote and regulate urban and peri-urban agriculture.
This framework is set to provide clear guidelines and prevent conflicts between city farmers and local authorities over unclear regulations.
“Urban farming is a new phenomenon. Before devolution, farming in the city was prohibited except for the peri-urban areas. However, with new technologies, people can now farm in their verandas, corridors, and even balconies,” said Gladwell Cheruiyot, Chief Officer of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources for Nairobi City County.
She was speaking at the 8th Africa Agri Expo held on 19th and 20th February in Nairobi. The Expo was themed “Shaping the future of food, livestock, and poultry in Africa.”
“In the agriculture sector, we are coming up with a policy that will guide our farmers to do urban farming without conflict with other laws of the county. As we speak, we are almost completing the peri-urban and urban farming policy for Nairobi County so that it can be used to guide the farmers on where to do what while ensuring safety,” she said.
Cheruiyot stressed the importance of urban farming, noting that with limited resources and rising malnutrition, urban farming is the future.
“We encourage people to practice subsistence farming even at their doorstep to meet household food needs, particularly by growing vegetables and keeping poultry. Some of our farmers have gone to an extent of doing it for very encouraging business and we have women groups who are already getting money out of urban farming,” she said.
Currently, in Kenya, there is no comprehensive national or county-level policy dedicated to governing urban agriculture. However, existing laws such as the Public Health Act and Land Control Act influence urban farming to some extent, with local county governments often taking the lead in promoting and regulating urban agriculture within their jurisdictions.
With this new policy, Nairobi is looking to turn urban farming into a well-structured, profitable, and sustainable practice. Once finalized, the Nairobi County’s urban and peri-urban farming policy could serve as a model for other counties to foster the growth and sustainability of urban agriculture.
“The policy is important because it guides the people on how to do that practice, where to do it, and to avoid conflict with their neighbours and other laws. I encourage other county governments to also develop guidelines on urban farming,” she urged.
Beyond small-scale farming, Cheruiyot sees great potential for urban agriculture to attract investment and boost food processing, noting that counties can play a crucial role in attracting more public-private partnerships to boost farming outcomes across the country.
“In Nairobi, 80% of what we consume comes from rural areas. Many traders here focus on processing food rather than growing it. Some traders processes milk, tomatoes, or dry vegetables. As a county, we have partnered with a Swedish project to help farmers add value to their produce. This includes waste management, organic manure production, and poultry feed processing,” she added.
