Kenya

Country Context

Kenya’s economy relies heavily on farming, but it faces many challenges. After recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country was significantly impacted by the 2023 drought in the Horn of Africa, which left 4.4 million people facing severe food shortages and approximately 1.1 million women and children suffering from acute malnutrition.

Farming makes up more than one-third of Kenya’s gross domestic product and employs more than 70 percent of the rural population. However, problems such as low productivity, lack of access to finance and poor infrastructure make it hard for farmers to succeed. Animal diseases further compound challenges by reducing livestock productivity and increasing mortality rates. Additionally, youth unemployment and economic vulnerability contribute to approximately 35 percent of Kenyans living in poverty. Climate change exacerbates these challenges, as erratic rainfall patterns disrupt traditional farming practices and push farmers to seek more stable livelihoods elsewhere.

Our Response

Heifer Kenya supports smallholder farmers by providing livestock, seeds, tools and market access. Key strategies include strengthening agricultural cooperatives and supporting farmer-owned businesses so farmers can share resources and ideas to improve collective bargaining power, reduce costs and improve their enterprises.

Partnering with governments and the private sector secures essential resources and services for farmers to invest in their operations. Our approach focuses on engaging youth, promoting digital agriculture and working with communities to foster shared goals and values. Farmers receive training in modern techniques and gain access to financial services that help them build strong market systems for long-term success.

Our primary objective is helping families achieve a sustainable living income, our measure for the amount of money required for a decent life — including safe shelter, nutritious food, clothing, education and health care — while also reaching additional benchmarks for economic and climate resilience.

The Kenya Signature Program

Heifer International’s work is organized at the country level into Signature Programs focused on large-scale, measurable and sustainable impact achieved by building partnerships at all levels. Each program supports farmers through time-bound projects designed to increase their household income.

Kenya Practice for Change

Heifer Kenya’s Signature Program, Practice for Change (P4C), aims to help 625,000 households achieve a sustainable living income by 2030 through the transformation of agricultural value chains, including beef, dairy, poultry and horticulture.