The present soil survey is the first in a series of "reconnaissance soil surveys", with a multi-purpose land evaluation. A programme of systematic inventory of the soil and, land resources of the country was initiated by the Kenya Soil Survey in 1972, after strengthening with manpower and funds from the Netherlands Directorate for Development Co-operation through the "Kenya Soil Survey Project", of the then Soil Survey Unit of the National Agricultural Laboratories in Nairobi.