Kenya's Horticulture Lesson

In this blog post, I will be examining a case study of Kenya and its horticulture agribusiness, which has been one of the more successful stories on the African continent. The factors which allowed horticulture to flourish and specifically, the role of irrigation in smallholder farms will be explored.

The narratives of Africa with regards to agriculture, can sometimes be steeped in how the continent is not fulfilling its potential. There are, however, some countries which have subverted this account and had considerable development of their agriculture industry. An example is Kenya, an eastern and central Africa country which derives 26% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from agriculture directly and another 27% through linkages with other industries (FAO, 2019).  Although key agricultural exports such as coffee and tea contribute significantly to Kenya’s GDP, I will focus more on horticulture produce as

1.     It has increased 5 times in real dollar value since 1975, exceeding US$320 million in 2005 as seen in Figure 1 (Minot & Ngigi, 2010).

2.     More than half of exports are produced in smallholder farms (Minot & Ngigi, 2010). 

Figure 1. Note the increase from 1961 to 2005 (Minot & Ngigi, 2010).

Landscape of Kenyan horticulture

In Kenya, agriculture alone accounts for 65% of export earnings, employs over two-fifths of the population and at least 7 in 10 people living in rural areas (FAO, 2019).  Currently, large volumes of Kenyan horticulture products are exported to neighbouring African countries, European markets and Asia (Minot & Ngigi, 2010).  Smallholder farms supply an estimated 47-60% of exported fruits and vegetables (Minot & Ngigi, 2010). The Economic Partnership Agreements signed by Kenya with the European Union reduces 5-15% import tariffs for their produce and Oluoch (as cited in Minot & Ngigi,2010) states this protects 1.5 million jobs in fisheries and horticulture.

Figure 2. Note the fruits and vegetables with the highest export values (Minot & Ngigi, 2010).

From Figure 2., among the most important exports are French beans, avocado and pineapple. While the former is a vegetable from a temperate region, the latter two are tropical fruits. Much of land in Kenya is arid or semi-arid and the World Bank (2016) estimates that 10% of Kenya’s land is arable. Thus, agricultural production is concentrated in the western highlands. One advantage there is that the varying altitudes, equatorial climate and bimodal rainfall allow for both tropical fruits and temperate vegetables to be grown (Minot& Ngigi, 2010). This allows diversification of crops that help limit shock when there is crop failure or disease for one variety.   

Moreover, the main air transport hub in Kenya, Nairobi, is in the western highlands, which provides proximity for fruits that are very time-sensitive and travel by air freight (Minot & Ngigi, 2010). Farms throughout the western highlands are well connected through roads to the airport as well (Minot& Ngigi, 2010). Such transport connections and market access provide linkages to overseas markets as outlets. 

The growing overseas demand for these vegetables and products round the year, together with the demand from the internal tourism industry, help to fuel the incentives for increased productivity (Minot & Ngigi, 2010). With 96% of produce still supplying domestic markets, the large numbers involved in horticulture (both directly and indirectly such as transportation of fruit and vegetables) stand to benefit with greater income from increased yield to meet overseas demand (Minot & Ngigi, 2010).     

The Role of Irrigation in Smallholder Farms

Mwangi and Crewett (2018) have noted in their study of Kiambu (adjacent to the capital Nairobi) of a few advantages that irrigation provides smallholder farmers (defined by farm sizes less than 3 hectares). The constant demand through the year in Nairobi has incentivised farmers to spend on irrigation systems to grow crops yearlong, particularly in the dry season (Mwangi& Crewett, 2018).

Irrigation in this region can be divided into manual and modern irrigation. Manual irrigation involves the use of manual labour such as buckets of water from wells, streams, boreholes and handpumps while modern irrigation typically involves “pipe conveyance and pressurised distribution systems” (Mwangi& Crewett, p. 298, 2018). Unsurprisingly, farmers with irrigation systems capitalised on the dry season when vegetable and fruit prices are higher (Mwangi & Crewett, 2018). Additionally, the increased volume of crops produced allowed farmers to justify transport costs for their produce, which was especially important to farmers living far from markets (Mwangi & Crewett, 2018). These factors enabled greater productivity, which led to increased incomes for farmers (Mwangi & Crewett, 2018).

However, manual irrigation has more limited benefits compared to modernised irrigation. The time spent on manual irrigation can occupy up to 38% of one’s productive time (Danso et al., 2002). Manual irrigation may also be confined to the available range of the water source (Mwangi & Crewett, 2018). Furthermore, access to modern irrigation systems, is dependent on capital and poses barriers to the poor (Mwangi & Crewett, 2018).

Some learning pointers

Connectivity to markets is crucial for Kenya’s horticulture: being linked with overseas demand provides the stimulus for farmers to increase agricultural productivity. The role of the state in ensuring favourable conditions for trade cannot be understated as well. With such conditions, irrigation is an enabler that they provide farmers opportunities to generate greater incomes to lift themselves out of poverty. However, access to irrigation systems is still uneven, which can be a limitation on the output generated by smallholder farms.