Kenya’s property market has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last two decades, making housing one of the most stable forms of investment. And as demand for homes grows — driven in part by the increased cash flow in counties — more landowners are feeling the pressure to convert agricultural land into commercial and residential real estate.

As Kenya’s economy modernises, there has been an increase in the demand for development of commercial and residential properties, not just in the big cities, but also in county headquarters and adjoining townships. Everywhere one looks, from Murang’a to Eldoret, Kericho and Kisumu counties and beyond, constructions are coming up at impressive speed.

Interestingly, every new development is snapped up even before construction work is fully completed, meaning that the appetite for residential and business premises is huge and unlikely to be satiated any time soon. Indeed, according to government statistics, Kenya crosses every year with a deficit of 250,000 homes. That is no small number by any measure.

That is why the proposal by Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi for Kenya to come up with a land use policy ought to be debated soberly, expeditiously, and robustly. The legislator has raised genuine fears about Kenya’s declining food productivity arising in part because real estate expansion has been eating up fertile and agriculturally productive land. In a sense, Kenyans are literally building homes and businesses on top of gold mines. And while home ownership is esteemed and a goal for every rational person, there is need to balance demand for homes vis-à-vis the necessity of safeguard long-term food production.

Already, Kenya has annual food deficits. Only last month, the government allowed the importation of over 500,000 metric tonnes of rice. Every year, we import over 250,000 metric tonnes of sugar. We literally import all the cooking oil we need for our meals. And we have an annual deficit in the production of maize and wheat, both of which are staples, although demand varies year-on-year depending on factors such as weather.

This year, incidentally, Kenyan farmers have managed to grow more maize than in previous years although the acreage under the grain reduced for the first time in the country’s history. This is a move in the right direction and was made possible by the government’s farm inputs programme targeting farmers directly. The first major challenge ahead now lies in ensuring that farmers continue to embrace technologies that protect crops in the farms and after harvest, as these are key to food security. The second revolves around ensuring that we do not drastically reduce the acreage under food production.

It is, therefore, imperative that the government, through the aptly-named Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, shepherds the process of crafting a policy framework under which Kenya can strike a healthy balance between home ownership and long-term agricultural self-sustenance. This is critical because rising populations will require more food and there is danger in converting large swathes of fertile land into residential areas.

Kenya can borrow a leaf from Europe, Asia and America, where these two competing interests are clearly demarcated and where land use is robustly controlled, unlike in Kenya where landowners are free to do as they please with their holdings, including sub-dividing them into economically unviable portions to satisfy family demands and cultural attitudes towards land ownership. We need, clearly, to go back to the era when land was correctly classified as a factor of production, unlike now when it is held for its cultural and sentimental value.

Land is not an ornament but a critical driver of economic growth and transformation, hence the need for the long-overdue policy that Wanyonyi is now advocating for in the National Assembly.

China, Brazil and Morocco industrialised and grew their wealth because they embraced radical shifts in land ownership. In these countries, retrogressive concepts like “fifty by hundred” are unheard of. Let me demonstrate why such concepts are dangerous.

Because of the subdivision of range lands in places like Laikipia and Narok counties, there has been a systematic reduction in the number of beef cattle. As you know, cattle need vast areas to browse. As their numbers decline, the cost of beef in urban areas has been going up steadily.

Since we as a country do not have sophisticated storage mechanisms like those found in European countries, we cannot store beef for future use. It goes to waste in real time, meaning that as herders sell off more of their group ranches to speculators and public officials trying to clean illicit money, the cost of meat will continue to go up, thus reducing affordability for the vast majority at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

We are acting too late with regard to the land use policy, but Wanyonyi has beaten a path that offers an opportunity for Kenya to get back on track.

mbugua@nairobilawmonthly.com