Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced that the city’s new chapati-making machine is now operational, marking another technological addition to the county’s efforts to improve large-scale food preparation.
According to Sakaja, the machine has the capacity to produce up to 5,000 chapatis every hour, a production rate that could significantly increase the speed at which meals are prepared for Nairobi’s school feeding programme.
The development comes as the Nairobi County Government continues to expand and institutionalise its Dishi na County programme, an initiative designed to provide affordable meals to children in public schools across the capital.
The county launched Dishi na County in 2023, with the programme initially targeting hundreds of thousands of learners in public primary and early childhood development centres.
The county has invested in a network of central kitchens, including a large industrial facility in Industrial Area designed to support meal production on a massive scale.
Machine to boost large-scale meal preparation
The introduction of the chapati machine is particularly significant because preparing thousands of chapatis manually can be time-consuming and labour-intensive.
With a stated capacity of 5,000 chapatis per hour, the machine could theoretically produce enough chapatis for tens of thousands of servings during a full production shift, depending on how many chapatis are allocated to each meal.
The technology also fits into the broader direction of Nairobi’s school feeding programme, which has increasingly relied on centralised kitchens and modern food-production systems.
In January 2024, the county said its Industrial Area mega kitchen had the capacity to produce about 60,000 meals a day, while additional kitchens were being constructed across the city’s sub-counties.
At the time, the county said the programme was already feeding approximately 180,000 learners, with an ambition to reach 250,000 children once all 17 kitchens became operational.
Part of Sakaja’s wider school-feeding agenda
The chapati machine comes against the backdrop of Sakaja ‘s efforts to make school feeding one of the major social programmes of his administration.
The county’s proposed 2025 School Feeding Policy seeks to institutionalise Dishi na County as a permanent county function.
The policy places school meals within a broader framework involving nutrition, social protection, accountability and support for local agricultural production.
The programme is also aimed at addressing a practical challenge faced by many families in Nairobi: ensuring that children receive a reliable meal while at school.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health notes that school meals can contribute to improved enrolment, attendance and retention, particularly among children from vulnerable communities.
Nairobi’s food-production system continues to expand
The county’s investment in central kitchens has been accompanied by efforts to increase the scale and efficiency of food preparation.
When the 10 central kitchens were being developed in 2023, Nairobi County said they were intended to help provide meals to about 250,000 children in public schools.
The county also allocated Sh1.7 billion to the Dishi na County programme in its 2023/24 budget, including funding for additional kitchens and subsidies for meals.
More recently, the Nairobi City County Government has been working towards a formal school-feeding policy that would provide a long-term framework for the programme rather than treating it as a temporary intervention.
County officials have described the policy as a move towards a sustainable and accountable school-feeding system.
Challenges remain
Despite the expansion, questions remain over how widely Nairobi’s school-feeding infrastructure can eventually reach.
A March 2026 analysis by the African Cities Research Consortium estimated that around 300,000 children in Nairobi’s informal settlements attend school without a guaranteed meal every day.
The analysis noted that Dishi na County has made progress but reaches fewer than 40% of learners, with many children in low-cost private schools remaining outside the programme.
The new chapati-making technology therefore comes at a time when demand for affordable school meals remains substantial.
For Sakaja’s administration, increasing production capacity could help the county handle larger volumes of food while reducing the time required for preparation.
The announcement also highlights how Nairobi’s school-feeding programme is evolving from conventional kitchen operations into a more industrialised food-production system, with automation being introduced to support the growing number of children it seeks to serve.
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