Nairobi – Governor Sakaja Johnson has set out how the county’s ongoing market construction drive can help reverse Kenya’s staggering food losses, arguing that agricultural transformation must extend far beyond the farm gate.
Speaking on October 8, 2026, Sakaja said properly designed markets should preserve food value through cold storage, grading, packaging, processing and distribution, rather than simply offering trading space.
“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,” the Governor said.
Nairobi’s 20-market construction push
The county is currently constructing and modernising 20 markets. Gikomba Market stands at 98% complete, South B Market at 97%, and Maji Mazuri Market has already been finished, with Kahawa West Market also among those in progress.
Sakaja cited research by the World Resources Institute estimating that Kenya loses or wastes up to 40% of its annual food production, roughly nine million tonnes valued at approximately KSh 72 billion. He said halving those losses could feed more than seven million additional Kenyans each year without putting a single extra acre under cultivation.
“A market should be where food stops rotting, not where it goes to rot,” he said, adding that the system connecting farmers to consumers had too often failed to do its part.
He argued that infrastructure enabling storage and processing could convert surplus produce into tradeable goods rather than waste.
“When there is a glut of tomatoes, we should not be watching them spoil. We should be processing them into paste,” Sakaja said.
Dishi Na County as a Demand Anchor
The Governor highlighted the county’s Dishi Na County school feeding programme as a practical example of how institutional demand can stabilise the agricultural value chain.
The initiative currently feeds 324,000 learners across 230 public schools, consuming roughly 37 tonnes of food every school day, including rice, beans, vegetables and other staples.
“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 called on producing counties to link their cooperatives and farmers directly to Nairobi’s markets and institutional kitchens through transparent procurement, describing the capital as a consumption hub that plays an outsized role in determining what food is ultimately worth.
“Nairobi may not grow most of Kenya’s food. But Nairobi plays an enormous role in determining what that food is worth,” he said.
Sakaja framed the market modernisation effort as part of a broader push to build a more efficient food system in which cold-chain infrastructure, processing capacity and technology work together to shorten the distance between producers and consumers, and to ensure farmers earn more while consumers pay fairly.
