Kiambu and Murang’a are leading in the reduction of land under coffee cultivation as investors convert the plots into more profitable crops, such as avocado and Macadamia, or real estate.
Murang’a has the largest cut at 4,709 hectares (11,636.2 acres), followed closely by Nyeri and Kiambu at 3,501 hectares (8,651.16 acres) and 4,401 hectares (10,801.05 acres), respectively, according to the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
Farmers in Murang'a and Nyeri are shifting to profitable crops, encouraged by better returns from the export markets.
This has seen the acreage under cash crops like avocado and Macadamia increase, as that of coffee or "black gold" as previously known continues to shrink.
China, the United States, the Middle East and Europe are some major markets where Kenyan farmers export their produce. But farmlands in Kiambu, which sits on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi, are fast giving way to apartment blocks or high-end gated communities on the back of increased returns from Kenya’s vibrant real estate market.
At Tatu City, high-rise flats are already located where coffee bushes once stood as agriculture gives way to a concrete jungle that will house thousands of people.
Where there were coffee-pickers, there are now construction workers in multi-coloured jackets and yellow helmets, while hoes have been replaced by shovels.
“Many farmers are uprooting coffee bushes and turning to real estate or avocado farming. The returns from coffee have been too low and unpredictable,’’ said a farmer from Murang’a.
Coffee production in Kenya has fallen from a record 130,000 tonnes in the 1988 season to 48, 700 tonnes from the 2023 crop.
Coffee sector authorities are alarmed at the conversion of farms under coffee to real estate and they want the government to create a policy to protect the coffee fields.
But green shoots emerged last year.
“Generally, there was an increase in area under coffee from 111,902 hectares 2022/23 to 113,503 hectares translating to 1.43 percent rise. The increase in area is attributed to the introduction of coffee production in non-traditional coffee growing zones,” AFA says.
Laikipia and Taita Taveta counties have the highest growth in the acreage of land under coffee crop in Kenya, highlighting the new zones preferred by investors for production of the key foreign exchange earner.
Analysis of new data shows that the area under coffee in Laikipia County grew by 32.8 percent in the 2023/24 crop year- the highest change across all the 33 counties where the crop is grown, followed by Taita Taveta at 20 percent, Elgeyo Marakwet(17.2 percent), Siaya (16.2 percent), and Baringo (15.3 percent).
These new areas were traditionally used for producing sisal, tea, sugarcane, maize, beans, sorghum, macadamia, tomatoes, and bananas, but they are gradually adopting coffee farming.
