Land use policies

Issues on land that are relevant to agricultural development include conflicts between different land uses due to the lack of a coordinating body that can ensure harmony between different users (Kenya 1994). Harmonisation of different development activities that can foster optimal land use and control of environmental degradation is a critical issue.

The failure by the existing land conservation policy and the need to have attendant laws to generate environmentally sound land use habits for sustainable.

This has over time led to difficulties of access and utilisation of land. The country lacks a clearly articulated land policy with the result that issues like land use, management, tenure reforms and environmental protection are inadequately addressed through the existing systems (Kenya 2001). Land is an important resource in agriculture in Kenya and lack of access to or ownership of land is considered one of the major causes of poverty (UNDP 2002). The scarcity of agricultural land makes the issue of land use policy a critical one. Only less than 20% of the country’s land surface is high and medium potential. The PRSP identifies the improvement of land uses management as one of the ways of improving agriculture.