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- President William Ruto launched cocoa farming as a high-value cash crop at the Kenya Seed Farm in Endebess, Trans Nzoia County
- Ruto also unveiled an aerial seeding programme and JazaMiti digital platform as part of Kenya's 15-billion-tree target
- Research data placed cocoa's earning potential significantly above coffee, tea, and maize for Kenyan farmers
TUKO.co.ke journalist Japhet Ruto has over eight years of experience in financial, business, and technology reporting, offering insights into Kenyan and global economic trends.
President William Ruto has officially launched cocoa farming as a high-value cash crop in Kenya and unveiled an aerial seeding programme targeting degraded forests, positioning both initiatives as twin pillars of the government's plan to boost farmer incomes while meeting its environmental restoration goals.
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Ruto made the announcement at the Kenya Seed Farm in Endebess, Trans Nzoia County, where he outlined plans to integrate cocoa cultivation into the national tree-growing programme.
What is cocoa's earning potential?
A comparative economic analysis cited by the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), which has been assigned technical oversight of the cocoa rollout, shows the crop generating approximately KSh 552,000 per acre annually.
That figure surpasses avocado at KSh 400,000, coffee at KSh 300,000, potatoes at KSh 180,000, macadamia at KSh 117,000, tea at KSh 53,000, and maize at KSh 35,000 per acre.
Ruto told the gathering that farmers could earn up to KSh 500,000 per acre from cocoa, framing the crop as a vehicle for simultaneously conserving forests and improving rural livelihoods.
"We want to plant trees that also give us food and fruits so that as we conserve our forests, we can improve our livelihoods and move forward together as one," he said, as reported by MyGov on Tuesday, October 20.
The president noted that cocoa was gazetted as a scheduled commercial crop two years ago, and that roughly five million hectares of land across Kenya have been identified as suitable for its cultivation.
What is the government doing?
To support the national rollout, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), working alongside the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), will multiply and distribute quality cocoa seedlings developed through ongoing research programmes.
How Kenya plans to increase forest cover
Beyond cocoa, the president also unveiled an aerial seeding programme aimed at restoring degraded forest land at scale, alongside the JazaMiti digital platform.
This comes as the country pursues its target of planting 15 billion trees across the country.
The Endebess launch signals a broader shift in Kenya's agricultural and forestry strategy, with the government seeking to align food security, income generation, and environmental conservation under a single national framework.
Source: TUKO.co.ke