Kirinyaga County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya which borders three counties namely Nyeri, Murang’a and Embu. It covers an area of 1,478.1 square kilometres and lies between 1,158 metres and 5,380 metres above sea level in the South and at the Peak of Mt. Kenya respectively. It is endowed with a forest cover of 350.7 Km2 and is inhabited by a variety of wildlife including elephants, buffaloes, monkeys, bushbucks and colourful birds while the lower parts of the forest zone provide grazing land for livestock. The county has six major rivers which drain into the Tana River.
Kirinyaga County is an agrarian county that grows some of the best coffee in the world, tea and best aromatic rice in the East Africa region. Moreover, the county boasts of agricultural exports such as horticulture and macadamia.
Kirinyaga is literally translated as the dwelling place of God in the Kikuyu language. Kirinyaga County is situated at the foot of Mt. Kenya where traditionally the Kikuyu community offered their prayers to God. It is thus a symbolic county culturally, religiously and economically. With the sessional paper titled “The Mountain Cities Blueprint” being developed by Her Excellency Governor Waiguru, Kirinyaga is set to become the health, wellness, organic and resort hub of the world by 2032.
Kirinyaga County’s population is 610,411 people (male 302,011 and female 308,369) with a 1.6 % population growth rate. (KNBS, 2019)
Kirinyaga County, Gross County Product (GCP) accounted for 1.3 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of 2021. The GCP increased from Ksh. 107,410 million in 2017 to Ksh.143,807 million in 2021. The Agriculture sector contributed 43.9 per cent of GCP while Transport, Wholesale and retail, and Real Estate constituted 12.1 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively.
The overall national headcount poverty rate is 36.1 per cent according to the 2015/2016 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey, and the food poverty rate is 32 per cent.
The food poverty rate for Kirinyaga County is 18.8 per cent while the headcount poverty rate for Kirinyaga is 20.0 per cent. (2015/2016 KIHBS)
