The County Government of Uasin Gishu has initiated discussions with various stakeholders over the formulation of policies that will provide guidelines on land fragmentation.
This is after concerns over increased sub division of agricultural land within the county due to urbanisation – an issue that has been named as a threat to agricultural productivity.
As part of the discussions, the County Department of Lands and Physical Planning hosted a meeting with County Assembly Committee Members for Lands alongside officials from the Food Agriculture Organisation(FAO) led by Lindah Opiyo.
The meeting was also attended by Officials from the National Land Commission(NLC), Planners, Surveyors, and Valuers among others.
During the meeting, Chief Officer Lands and Physical Planning Nathan Korir, expressed the need to fast track a functional County Spatial plan – a tool -3 said will address all development plans including location for all amenities in the county, in the next 10 years, while also ensuring that agricultural land is protected through strict follow up on zoning regulations.
“Land fragmentation has led to a situation where a farming household possesses several non-contiguous land plots. This fragmentation has been observed to be fast approaching our rural lands yet we are known as the bread basket of the country,” Korir said.
“The absence of a real standard objective measure of land fragmentation makes comparisons between farms difficult, and hence this has made it hard to decide when a farm is too fragmented calling for the need for policy formulation to curb further fragmentation,” he added.
Causes of increase in land fragmentation
On his part, Chief Officer Agriculture Elphas Kessio said that the discussions were timely and the county leadership would fast-track the process.
He named inheritance, the sale of land for social needs such as education, informal transactions of land and politics as some of the issues that have led to an increase in land fragmentation.
Simat/Kapseret MCA Moses Kebenei who is also the Uasin Gishu County Assembly chairperson Committee for Lands and Physical Planning appreciated the initiative by the Department.
He pledged to involve the County Assembly members in sensitization about the benefits of controlling land fragmentation and also ensuring that the County Spatial Plan is approved.
NLC representative Andrew Rotich said bringing together all stakeholders including the administration and village elders in the sensitization and education of the public on the need to preserve agricultural land is key.
Further, Director Lands Nelly Jerotich together with her counterparts, Director Physical Planning Planner Daniel Koech and Director Agriculture Ismael Asowa gave their expertise in support of the need for immediate action in coming up with a County Spatial plan.
They also asked the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative to consider supporting Uasin Gishu County in the Spatial plan, Valuation Roll and policy framework for land fragmentation.
Uasin Gishu is among the counties in the North Rift considered the country’s food basket.
