Kenya, for the umpteenth time, is grappling with a rather familiar challenge of a severe drought instigated by below-average rainfall. The 2025 short rains between October and December delivered only 30-60% of the long-term average, a catastrophe that has resulted in over two million Kenyans facing worsening food insecurity and causing widespread livestock deaths.
"Drought is a perennial challenge and will worsen due to climate change. Kenya must stop depending on rainfed agriculture to deal with the problem," says Joshua Mugendi, co-founder and director of Kenya-based seedling propagation firm GrowPact Kenya.
GrowPact, which has it base in Kitale, a region in northwestern Kenya—the food basket of East Africa—is spearheading a paradigm shift in Kenya's agricultural practices by helping farmers adopt greenhouse farming, hybrid seeds and tech innovations in the quest to tackle food insecurity.
Access to quality and affordable seeds and seedlings has long been a challenge in Kenya, as most varieties of hybrid seeds are produced by multinationals, putting them out of reach for many smallholders.
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