Maize production gains 1M tons as croplands expand by 126%
Kenya’s land area under crop farming rose by 126% in three decades to reach 7.8 million hectares with the country’s main staple food, maize, realizing biggest gain in production. Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the increase in agricultural land use from 3.46 million hectares was driven my conversions of grasslands mainly […] The post Maize production gains 1M tons as…
Kenya's agricultural land area expanded by a remarkable 126% over the past three decades, reaching an impressive 7.8 million hectares in 2021. This surge in cropland was primarily driven by the conversion of grasslands to accommodate food and industrial crops, with forests also being converted into croplands and grasslands, as noted in the Development of Land Accounts in Kenya report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
During this period, maize production skyrocketed from roughly 2.3 million tonnes to a substantial 3.3 million tonnes, marking the most significant increase among major crops. Beans production saw a notable rise from 400,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes, while Irish potato production expanded from 800,000 tonnes to 2.1 million tonnes.
Rice production grew from 40,000 metric tonnes to 200,000 tonnes, while industrial crops such as tea and sugarcane have been on the rise. However, coffee and barley production have declined due to sustained reductions in yields and acreage.
Written by urgent.news from KBC's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
