Ruto urges Kenyans to stop subdividing farmland for homes
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President William Ruto has asked Kenyans to stop carving agricultural land into residential plots, arguing that affordable housing estates should absorb new households while farmland is kept for food production.
President William Ruto has urged Kenyans to stop subdividing agricultural land for residential construction, arguing that his government’s Affordable Housing Programme offers a better alternative while protecting farmland for food production.
Speaking in Nandi County on Sunday, 18 October 2026, Ruto said productive land should be reserved for growing crops and rearing livestock instead of being divided into smaller residential plots. “Hatutaki mashamba tena ikatwe katwe,” he said, telling tea farmers to move into affordable housing estates and leave their plantations for commercial production.
The president identified dairy, coffee, tea and sugarcane as agricultural activities that need adequate land, and criticised the practice of building scattered houses and latrines across productive farms. He argued that concentrating residential development in towns would let families earn more from their land.
His remarks came as construction progresses on the Nandi Hills affordable housing estate, which was reported to be 75% complete in September. The development comprises 729 residential units and 26 commercial shops, and Ruto inspected a housing project in Nandi Hills on Saturday, 17 October.
Ruto did not announce a legal ban on subdividing agricultural land. His comments instead set out the government’s preferred settlement model: concentrated urban housing alongside farmland reserved for production, with housing linked to food security in the administration’s messaging.