Sakaja says Nairobi’s 20 modern markets will help cut food waste, boost farmers’ earnings

Sakaja said agricultural transformation should extend beyond farms to include markets, cold-storage facilities, processing plants and distribution networks to ensure more food reaches consumers before it spoils.

“Agricultural transformation will not be won on the farm alone. It will also be won in the last 50 kilometres in our markets, our cold rooms, our processing factories, our kitchens and increasingly, in computer code,” Sakaja said.

The county is undertaking construction and modernisation works at 20 markets, with Gikomba Market reported to be 98 per cent complete and South B Market 97 per cent complete. Maji Mazuri Market has been completed, while Kahawa West is among the other markets being upgraded.

Sakaja said the objective was to ensure that food produced by farmers retains its value throughout the supply chain instead of going to waste before reaching consumers.

“A market should be where food stops rotting, not where it goes to rot,” he said.

The Governor cited research by the World Resources Institute estimating that Kenya loses or wastes up to 40 per cent of the food it produces annually, equivalent to approximately nine million tonnes valued at about KSh72 billion.

He said halving these losses could make enough food available to feed more than seven million additional Kenyans annually without necessarily expanding the acreage under cultivation.

“The farmer did her job. She planted, tended, harvested and transported her produce. But too often, the system between her and the plate did not do its job,” Sakaja said.

He argued that modern markets should incorporate cold storage, aggregation, grading, packaging and processing facilities to help farmers and traders manage oversupply and preserve produce for longer periods.

“When there is a glut of tomatoes, we should not be watching them spoil. We should be processing them into paste. When there is an oversupply of potatoes, we should be creating new products, new industries and new jobs,” he said.

Sakaja said such investments could help transform agriculture into a stronger industrial sector by creating opportunities for food processing, manufacturing and employment while retaining more value within the country’s agricultural value chain.

He added that reliable market access and predictable demand could encourage farmers to increase production while reducing uncertainty over where and how to sell their produce.

The Governor cited Nairobi’s Dishi Na County school feeding programme as an example of how institutional demand could support agricultural production and strengthen links between farmers and consumers.

The programme serves 324,000 learners in 230 public schools and requires approximately 37 tonnes of food every school day, including rice, beans, vegetables and other agricultural produce.

“That is not just a nutrition intervention. It is a daily demand for rice, beans, ndengu, vegetables and other agricultural produce. And predictable demand is something a farmer can take to the bank,” Sakaja said.

He said the county wanted to connect cooperatives and farmers from food-producing counties to Nairobi’s institutional markets and kitchens through transparent and competitive procurement processes.

“Let us connect your cooperatives to our kitchens. Your farmers to our markets. Your production to our consumption,” he said.

Sakaja noted that Nairobi’s large population makes the capital a major consumer market, despite its limited agricultural land, giving the city an important role in determining the value farmers receive for their produce.

“Nairobi may not grow most of Kenya’s food. But Nairobi plays an enormous role in determining what that food is worth,” he said.

He said Nairobi should work with food-producing counties to improve distribution and market access rather than compete with them, adding that better coordination across the food chain would benefit farmers, traders, processors and consumers.

According to Sakaja, reducing food losses would improve food availability, help farmers earn more from their produce and support access to quality and affordable food.

“Food security is not simply about how much food we grow. It is about how much of what we grow actually reaches the table,” he said.

“The next frontier is not just producing more. It is losing less, processing more, connecting better and ensuring that the farmer earns more while the consumer pays fairly.”

Sakaja said Nairobi’s market modernisation programme was part of a broader effort to build a more efficient food system by strengthening infrastructure, expanding market opportunities and connecting agricultural production to consumer demand.