If you don’t live in Nairobi, Mombasa, Isiolo or Kajiado agriculture is your best bet
Agriculture makes up the biggest economic activity in 43 out of Kenya’s 47 counties making the industry the most dominant source of wealth in the country.
The exemptions where agriculture is not key include Nairobi where the biggest economic activity is financial and insurance business worth Kes534 billion.
In Mombasa, the transport and storage sector dominates with a value of about Kes104.3 billion.
The others are Kajiado whose real estate worth Kes28.5 billion is the hottest income generating business and Isiolo whose most lucrative sector is working for the government that commands a Kes7 billion economy in the county.
The richest sectors in the rest of the country are largely tied to agriculture with Meru leading the pack with a commanding Kes198 billion farming industry.
The top five counties in agriculture were Meru, Nakuru, Murang’a, Nandi, and Nyandarua producing a wide range of products including tea, maize, vegetable, potatoes, and raw milk.
Despite widespread practice of agriculture, 28 out of the 47 counties contributed less than 2 percent apiece to Kenya’s total agricultural output.
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Agriculture remained the dominant sector in Kenya accounting for about 22.4 percent of the overall Gross Domestic Product in 2021 despite contracting by 0.1 percent compared to a growth of 5.2 percent in 2020.
The decline was attributed to erratic and poorly distributed long rains as well as inadequate short rains last year.
Counties with large-scale grain farming of maize and wheat including Narok, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma, and Trans Nzoia were among major contributors to the agricultural economy.
Whereas fishing is also not as significant as growing crops or animal husbandry, Homa Bay managed to contribute 2.2 percent to total agricultural output from the trade.
