Nakuru county lies in Kenyan highlands. Two main urban centres are Nakuru and Naivasha. Over 2 million people are living in Nakuru county.
Our food is provided by a well-flourishing horticulture and dairy sector, while the fresh water lake support a growing fishery sector. Other economically important sectors in our county are floriculture, forestry, dairy farming, tourism, transport and geothermal energy sector. Our agricultural sector has grown over time but there is still a yield gap that affects overall production. Our region also experiences some environmental and inclusivity issues that we would like to address in the Nakuru Living Lab:
Environmental issues like:
- loss of soil fertility and erosion
- soil and water pollution due to heavy metals and other effluents
- environmental pollution and degradation due to waste and untreated sewage
- loss of land, ecosystems and habitats due to population growth and urbanisation
- deforestation
- CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions
- Climate change, unpredictable weather events and water scarcity
- Unsafe food
Inclusivity issues like:
- Gender inequality
- Youth unemployment
- Small holders with limited prospects for farming
- Proportion of the people with lack of access to healthy food.
We, Nakuru Living Lab, wants to provide food security in a way that these environmental and inclusivity issues are solved. Therefore, Nakuru Living Lab supports people that wants to innovate to solve these common issues and we bring together policymakers, investors, scientists, NGO’s and citizens that can enable a long term transformation of our food production and consumption