Questions about renting a plot, answered plainly.

100 × 50 ft, which is 5,000 sq ft or about 465 m². We measure and peg it on the ground with you, so you see exactly where your plot starts and ends before you agree to anything.

Raw farmland around here goes for something like KSh 8,000 an acre a month, and an acre is roughly nine of our plots. On rate alone raw land wins, and we would rather you heard it from us. What a plot changes is the commitment, not the rate: one month's fee to start, no water to bring, no acre to clear and fence before you plant, and nothing sitting idle while you learn what sells. Then you take the plot next door once the farming has paid for it. If you can fund the setting up and you want a full acre, rent raw land.

We quote a block rate rather than multiplying the single-plot price, including half-acre and one-acre blocks. Past a certain size, charging you the small-plot rate would put you close to the price of raw land, which would not be fair or sensible. A block is a price, not a shape: at Isinya a row holds five plots, so anything larger spans more than one row and will not all be side by side.

Three things at the start: your first month's plot fee, a refundable deposit, and a one-off charge to meter your plot and run the pipe to it. The connection is yours for the length of your term. After that you are paying the monthly fee and whatever water you use. We give you all three figures in writing before you agree to anything.

Yes, a refundable one, held for the length of your term. It covers unpaid water or fees, damage to a meter or tap, and clearing a plot that is left behind. It is not part of the monthly fee, and it comes back to you after the final reading and inspection.

From KSh 2,000 a month, paid every month. Water is on its own meter and billed on top. Manure, seedlings and any work you ask us to do are priced separately, and only if you want them.

No, and that is on purpose. The water is already on the land, and your plot gets its own take-off and meter when you start, so you pay for what you use instead of sharing someone else's bill.

Yes, when the one next to you is free. Two adjoining plots give you 200 × 50 ft, or 10,000 sq ft, worked as one. The plan on this site shows which runs of adjoining plots are open right now, and those are the ones that go first.

Six months. Twelve months suits you better if you want to keep planting on the same beds without a break.

No. Nothing rolls over on its own. Your term ends on the last day of the six or twelve months you agreed, and if you want to stay we sign a new agreement before that date. Growers already on a site are asked first before their plot is offered to anyone else, so tell us in good time if you want to keep it.

No. Many people start here exactly because it is smaller than an acre. If you would rather not do the heavy work, we can prepare the land, make the beds and plant for you. There is also a growers’ WhatsApp group where people ask each other what is worth planting and what a pest turns out to be. It is free to join and plenty of people in it are planting for the first time.

There is a lockable store on site you can take by the month for a small charge, so you are not carrying a jembe back and forth every visit. It is not included in the plot fee. Anything you leave out on the plot instead is there at your own risk.

Yes. Manure, compost, seedlings and drip fittings are on the farm and brought to your plot, so you are not carrying things from Nairobi.

Yes. Land preparation, beds, planting, weeding, spraying, harvesting and clearing are all available. Take all of it, some of it, or none of it.

Please do. Walk the plots, look at the water, and see the ground before you commit to anything. Message us on WhatsApp and we will meet you at the gate.

You clear your plot. Crops, structures and materials off, ground left level. We take your last water reading and bill it.

Isinya, Kajiado County, which is the first site we opened. We send you a pin and meet you at the gate when you arrange to come.

Isinya is open now and it is where we started. Shamba Space is built to run several sites rather than one farm, and every site works the same way: measured plots, water piped and metered per plot, the same terms. Where we open next depends on where people ask us to be, so tell us your town even if we are not there yet and we will let you know when we are.