Meru County
Mount Kenya's slopes created Africa's first African-grown coffee zone—now generates KSh 35 billion annually. By 2026: value-addition or continued commodity dependence.
Meru exists because Mount Kenya exists. The volcanic slopes east of Africa's second-highest peak create ideal conditions for high-altitude agriculture—coffee, tea, and bananas thrive in the fertile soils and reliable rainfall. The Meru people established themselves here long before colonialism, developing sophisticated irrigation systems on the mountain's flanks.
The colonial period introduced coffee cultivation, with the Meru becoming the first Africans permitted to grow the cash crop in Kenya under the 1923 Devonshire White Paper. This early-mover status in commercial agriculture shaped a strong cooperative tradition that persists today. But the county's most distinctive crop is miraa (khat)—a mildly stimulant leaf grown in the drier Igembe and Tigania areas, exported legally to markets in Somalia, Yemen, and beyond.
Today Meru's agricultural economy generates over KSh 35 billion annually: tea production exceeds 200,000 tonnes yearly, while coffee benefits from 2025's record prices of KSh 110-130 per kilogram of cherry—the highest in thirty-five years. Miraa remains controversial; a 2025 presidential crackdown targeted cartels exploiting farmers, while Meru University of Science and Technology is developing value-addition facilities to process tea, coffee, and miraa locally rather than exporting raw commodities.
The county exhibits classic niche-partitioning behavior: altitude creates distinct agricultural zones, each specialized to its microclimate. By 2026, Meru's trajectory depends on whether value-addition succeeds in capturing more of the agricultural value chain, or whether the county remains trapped exporting raw commodities while intermediaries capture margins.