Kenya's William Ruto proposes land consolidation to protect farms

President William Ruto has proposed a land consolidation initiative to prevent the continuous subdivision of ancestral family farms. Speaking in Kakamega on October 11, 2026, the President warned that population growth and increasing housing demands are driving the fragmentation of agricultural land, which could ultimately threaten national food security and household incomes.

Ruto advocated for organized family settlements as an alternative to dividing large parcels into smaller plots for each new generation. He suggested that families should establish residential areas within larger holdings to allow for continued large-scale cultivation of food crops, vegetables, and cash crops like coffee. The goal is to balance the need for housing with the necessity of maintaining productive farmland to support livelihoods and economic stability.