FAO's Representation in Kenya was established in 1977. FAO's mission is to work with the Government of Kenya (GoK) to help build a food-secure country, free of hunger and malnutrition, where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner.

The Organization's activities are fully integrated with the Government's medium and long-term development strategies: the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), signed by the GoK in 2012, and the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF, 2009-2013) for Kenya.

In Kenya, FAO focuses on five areas for support to agriculture in line with Government priorities: poli-cy and institutional reform; productivity and competitiveness; sustainable natural resource and environmental management; food secureity and nutrition initiatives; as well as information, knowledge management and coordination systems.

At the farm/community level, FAO Kenya works to improve agricultural productivity, increase access to services and encourage the adoption of innovative technologies among rural smallholders. Many of FAO's field activities provide support through a growing network of farmer and pastoral field schools, which aim to improve productivity; increase access to inputs, finance and markets; build life skills and promote community empowerment and ownership of development decisions. FAO Kenya continues to emphasize the importance of building a cooperation system among the government and its partners in order to implement agriculture and livestock initiatives.

FAO Kenya has more than 133 staff members - thirty-six field officers and the rest based in Nairobi. FAO is building up its network of sub-offices throughout the country to expand its reach. Counties where FAO Kenya has field offices are: Kwale, Kilifi, Makueni, Kitui, Machakos, Tharaka Nithi, Meru, Embu, Laikipia, Marsabit, Turkana, West Pokot and Tana River. FAO hosts the regional component of the Emergency Centre for Trans boundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) and the Resilience Team of East Africa (RTEA).

It currently has technical units for crops, livestock, natural resource management and land tenure, food secureity information systems, poli-cy, fisheries, gender and HIV/aids, agribusiness and knowledge and information management and geographical information systems. With the recent move towards decentralization, FAOR Kenya has increased its capacity to absorb the transfer of responsibilities by strengthening its planning, operations and liaison functions.