Agricultural economy & structure

Real value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing fell by 0.4% in 2021 and 1.5% in 2022, grew by 6.6% in 2023 and 4.4% in 2024, and grew by 3.1% in 2025, against GDP growth of 4.6% in 2025¹. In the second quarter of 2026 the sector grew by 3.5%, against 4.0% a year earlier, a slowdown KNBS attributed partly to the early end of the March–May long rains². At constant 2016 prices growing of crops produced KSh 1,316.5 billion in 2025, animal production KSh 404.2 billion, forestry KSh 108.2 billion and fishing and aquaculture KSh 60.7 billion¹.

At current prices agriculture's share of GDP rose from 17.6% in 2010 to 22.7% in 2020 and 23.2% in 2025 on World Bank data, which use the KNBS national accounts³. In dollar terms value added grew from US$7.98 billion in 2010 to US$31.48 billion in 2025, with a dip in 2023 when the shilling's annual average weakened to 139.85 per dollar⁴⁵.

The 2019 census counted 6,354,211 farming households out of 12,143,913, of which 5,555,974 grew crops and 4,729,288 kept livestock, while 369,679 practised irrigation¹³. Of farming households, 5,637,450 farmed mainly for subsistence and 506,687 mainly for sale¹³. A farmer registration in 2023 counted about 6.5 million farmers, of whom 55.5% practised mixed farming¹⁴.

Employment statistics give two pictures. The ILO's modelled estimate, which includes own-account farming, put agriculture at 45.8% of employment in 2025, down from 55.6% in 2010¹⁰. KNBS employment data exclude small-scale farming and pastoralism and record 311,900 private-sector wage employees in agriculture, forestry and fishing in 2025¹.

The overall poverty rate was 39.8% in 2022, 42.9% in rural and 33.2% in urban areas, against 36.1% in 2015/16¹⁵. Food poverty affected 31.7% of the population in 2022¹⁵.

KNBS classifies farms of 20 hectares and above as large farms, and these accounted for 28.4% of recorded marketed sales in 2025 (own calculation), against 71.6% for small farms¹⁷. Agricultural value added was spread across the counties, with Meru (8.1%) and Nakuru (6.4%) contributing the largest shares on average in 2020–2024, while 12 of the 47 counties contributed less than 1% each¹⁴.

Agricultural land covered 50.0% of the land area in 2024 and arable land 11.5%, while irrigated land was about 1% of agricultural land¹⁸. The Constitution classifies land as public, community or private, and the Community Land Act of 2016 provides for registering community land¹⁹²⁰.