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Herbal farming is creating jobs, empowering women entrepreneurs, and diversifying Kenya’s agricultural exports.[File, Standard]
The road to Kisaju in Kajiado County is dusty. The morning air is crisp, and the landscape looks dry for miles. It is not the kind of place one would expect to find lush greenery. Yet beyond the brown plains stand rows of greenhouses where herbs and spices destined for international markets flourish.
It is here, at Citadel Farm, that Kenyan women farmers are transforming acres of arid land into thriving export enterprises. Backed by modern cold-storage facilities that preserve quality from harvest to shipping, they grow basil, rosemary, thyme, and other high-value herbs bound for supermarket shelves and restaurant kitchens across Europe and the Middle East.
Inside the bustling farm, workers sort fresh cuttings while Yvonne Mumia Anyonyi, dressed in a red dust coat, debriefs her team. Nearby, a group of visiting women looks on, eager to benchmark her techniques for their own ventures.
