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Kenya has officially launched construction of a landmark $800 million (Sh103 billion) fertiliser manufacturing plant in Olkaria, Naivasha—an investment expected to transform the country’s agricultural sector and cut reliance on imported fertiliser. President William Ruto, who led the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, November 3, 2025, described the project as a decisive step toward insulating farmers from global price shocks while supporting the country’s clean-energy transition.
The plant, developed through a partnership between KenGen and China’s Kaishan Group, will be Africa’s first fertiliser facility powered entirely by geothermal energy. This comes at a crucial time: Kenya spent nearly Sh60 billion on imported fertiliser in the first half of 2025 alone, leaving farmers vulnerable to fluctuating international supply chains. President Ruto said the new project will end decades of uncertainty caused by unpredictable fertiliser prices and ensure farmers have reliable and affordable inputs throughout the year.
Unlike traditional fertiliser production, which relies heavily on natural gas, the Olkaria facility will run on 165 MW of geothermal steam and electricity supplied directly from KenGen’s fields. This renewable energy will power an electrolysis process that generates green hydrogen, which is then combined with nitrogen from the air to produce green ammonia—the foundation of nitrogen-based fertilisers. The developers say the plant will also trap non-condensable gases such as CO₂ from geothermal wells, preventing their release and creating a near-zero-emission industrial process expected to eliminate more than 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
With an estimated annual output of 480,000 tonnes, the factory will produce key products such as Green Urea and Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN). This will significantly reduce the country’s dependence on the more than 600,000 tonnes imported in 2023. The project is also a major pillar of the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which identifies food security and green industrialisation as central priorities. During construction and operation, more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created, while KenGen projects annual net earnings of about Sh1.7 billion from its stake.
Construction is set to begin in April 2026, with full operations targeted for August 2026—a timeline that positions the plant as one of Kenya’s fastest-moving industrial investments. Once complete, it is expected to stabilise local fertiliser prices, strengthen national food production systems, and highlight Kenya’s leadership in renewable-powered manufacturing on the continent.