President William Ruto has lauded his ambitious Affordable Housing Programme as one that will not only afford Kenyans decent homes but will also prevent land fragmentation.
Land fragmentation is the division of a farmer's land into a collection of scattered plots which effectively lowers the efficiency of agricultural management.
The President said the government is using the Affordable Housing Programme to cater for the increasing demand for housing to avert the risk of the country running out of adequate farming land.
"We want you to stop dividing land and live in Affordable Housing programme houses so that we can use the land you would have settled in to produce food and eradicate hunger," he said.
He explained that the government is keen on supporting farmers to scale up food production to help the country attain its food security goals.
The President was speaking in Kapsabet on Tuesday where he laid the foundation stone for the Emgwen Affordable Housing Project in Nandi County.
Ruto said the Affordable Housing Programme is one of the areas identified to create jobs and spur the country’s economic growth.
He said the Emgwen project of 220 units will create 500 direct jobs and another 3,000 indirect jobs including the local Jua Kali who will produce 1,200 doors costing Sh26 million.
Earlier, the President commissioned the Tinderet Integrated Technical and Trainers College in Nandi County.
He announced that an ICT hub has been established at Kaiboi National Polytechnic to help create more job opportunities for the youth.
“We are committed to ensuring the establishment of ICT hubs in every corner of the country to help create more job opportunities for the youth at the grassroots,” he said.
The President also commissioned the Nandi Poultry Processing Plant, launched the Kaiboi National Polytechnic and inspected the Nandi County Dairy Cooperative Creameries in Kabiyet.
Ruto said the poultry plant will handle more than 5,000 birds a day and employ at least 500 people.
The dairy plant which is 95 per cent to be complete has a processing capacity of 200,000 litres a day and targets 100,000 farmers.
