Production and Utilization of Food Commodities in Kenya

Kenya is an East African country with a total land area of 581, 787 km2 and a population of approximately 21 million. Of the total land, approximately 520, 000 km2 is utilized for agricultural production. However, most of the agricultural area falls into arid and semi-arid areas, having an annual rainfall of 612.5 mm or less. Only 19 % of the total agricultural area receives annual rainfall of more than 735 mm. The average annual rainfall of selected cities in eight provinces is shown in Table 1. In addition to rainfall, temperature plays an important role in agricultural productivity. In Kenya, the altitude of arable area ranges between almost sea level to approximately 3, 000 m above sea level and this influences the temperature of the given area. As shown in Table 2, the warm zone with adequate rainfall is extensively utilized for agricultural production. This area exists in the Rift Valley, Central and part of the Eastern and Western Provinces. The arid and semi-arid zones, including the North Eastern province and part of the Rift Valley province, are mainly utilized for animal production. Kenya's economic backbone is agriculture. The agricultural sector provides a base for her economic growth, employment creation and foreign exchange earnings. This sector contributed 26.2 % of real growth domestic product, while manufacturing and service sectors contributed 13.6% and 60.2 %, respectively, during the 1990-1995 period. Furthermore, agriculture is the major foreign exchange earner, second to tourism. The major agricultural exports include tea, coffee and horticultural crops as shown in Table 3.