Miller Magazine Issue: 118 October 2019

KENYA 94 MILLER / OCTOBER 2019 Kenya is located on the East Coast of Africa border- ing the Indian Ocean to the east, Sudan and Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast; Uganda to the west, and Tanzania to the south. It covers an area of 582,646 sq km ranks number 47 in the world in terms of size. Kenya has a market-based economy and is gen- erally considered the economic, commercial, financial and logistics hub of East Africa. Kenya has the potential to be one of Africa’s success stories from its growing youthful population, a dynamic private sector, a high- ly-skilled workforce, improved infrastructure, and its piv- otal role in East Africa. The economy of Kenya is the largest by GDP in East and Central Africa. Kenya is the ninth-largest economy in Africa and the fourth in Sub-Saharan Africa. It serves as the commercial hub for East Africa, with coastal ports that allow for imports to be received and transported to landlocked neighbors. The country’s per capita GDP was $1,608 in 2017, but unemployment and poverty re- main high with an estimated 40% of the population living below the poverty line. Kenya is home to more than 47 million people with an estimated population growth rate of 2.5 percent in 2017, more than twice the global average. The country’s pop- ulation growth has put significant pressure on its natural resources and arable land and has stressed the labor market and social service sector. Agriculture remains the backbone of the Kenyan economy, contributing one-third of GDP. About 75% of Kenya´s population work at least part-time in the agri- cultural sector, including livestock and pastoral activi- ties. Over 75% of agricultural output is from small-scale, rain-fed farming or livestock production. The country’s major agricultural exports are tea, coffee, cut flowers, and vegetables. Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea and cut-flowers. Kenya relies heavily on imported food and farm prod- ucts. The most important agricultural imports are wheat, palm oil, sugar, corn, and rice. In 2018, Kenya imported $2.5 billion of agricultural products from the world. Indo- nesia is currently the top agricultural exporter to Kenya.