First Lady Rachel Ruto has challenged women in Vihiga County to move beyond small-scale farming and use collective savings, investment and value addition to build stronger incomes and more secure livelihoods.
Speaking during a women's empowerment programme in Vihiga on Friday, Rachel said women were at the centre of the county's agricultural economy and could benefit more by working together, improving their farming practices and taking advantage of growing markets.
About 85 percent of Vihiga's population depends mainly on agriculture for their livelihoods, according to the county, with subsistence farmers making up about 90 percent. The county's key agricultural activities include African leafy vegetables, bananas, avocados, local poultry and dairy.
Rachel said women had already shown that they could create livelihoods from farming despite having access to relatively small pieces of land.
“At the heart of Vihiga's economy is agriculture, sustaining the livelihoods of more than 85 percent of the population, from the maize and beans that feed your families to bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, and your wide variety of indigenous vegetables, agriculture remains the backbone of life here.”
She said the development of modern markets would give women better places to trade their farm produce while also opening opportunities to reach larger markets.
Among the markets being developed are those in Luanda, Chavakali, Mbale, Majengo, Gambogi, Esirulo, Esibuye and Cheptulu.
Rachel said the new Cheptulu market would have stores, water and sanitation facilities as well as a crèche to support mothers working at the facility.
However, she said better infrastructure alone would not be enough to improve women's incomes, noting that they also needed skills, access to finance and organised farmer groups.
“But infrastructure alone is not enough. Women must also have the capacity to seize these opportunities. The National Agriculture Value Chain Development Project is organizing farmers around priority value chains such as banana, poultry, dairy, African vegetables, and avocado.”
The push for greater economic participation comes as the country continues to face a gap between women in urban and rural areas.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that 40.6 percent of women were economically empowered in 2025, compared with 29.3 percent in 2020. However, the rate stood at 59.3 percent among urban women against 27.6 percent for their rural counterparts.
Rachel said savings groups could give women greater financial strength by helping them access credit, combine their produce, process farm products and bargain for better markets.
She pointed to the Joyful Women programme as one of the initiatives helping women save, borrow and invest as groups.
“Government opens the doors. Joyful Women equips women to walk through them, ladies and gentlemen. That is the real meaning of economic empowerment. It is not simply putting money into a woman's hands; it is putting opportunity within her reach and giving her the tools to turn that opportunity into lasting wealth.”
The latest FinAccess Household Survey shows that access to formal financial services among Kenyan adults increased from 83.7 percent in 2021 to 84.8 percent in 2024, while digital financial services helped reduce the gap between men and women.
As part of the programme in Vihiga, Rachel said women and households would receive immediate support, including 300 bags of 50-kilogramme rice, 260 bags of 50-kilogramme beans, 10,000 avocado seedlings and 50 market shed umbrellas.
She urged women who have not joined Joyful Women groups to come on board, saying working together could help them break economic isolation, share skills and create new opportunities.
“Many of the women we are celebrating today understood that progress is a collective effort. They came together around shared values, pooled their resources, exchanged knowledge and skills, and created opportunities.”
Rachel also invited women to the Joyful Women celebrations planned for November in Nairobi, urging them to maintain a culture of saving, learning and investing as they work together to improve their livelihoods.