Coast region irrigation scheme promises at least 2 million jobs

President Uhuru Kenyatta operates a tractor at the January 9 groundbreaking ceremony for the National Food Security Project: Galana/Kulalu Model Farm at Galana in Tana River County. PHOTO | COURTESY  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Since independence, Kenya has developed only 450,000 acres of land under irrigation
• Over-reliance on rain for agriculture production is blamed for pushing food prices beyond the reach of the majority of Kenyans

By Ramenya Gibendi
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The launch of the million-acre Galana/Kulalu irrigation scheme in the Coast region sets in motion an ambitious project to cut one of the timelines of Vision 2030 by seven years.

The Sh250 billion-project was one of the promises made by candidate Uhuru Kenyatta in the campaign for last year’s General Election and one that aims to eradicate food insecurity by boosting production by breaking away from rain-fed agriculture.

On completion, the irrigation scheme, the largest in East and Central Africa, is projected to provide direct employment to about two million Kenyans. It will go on record as one of the government’s largest investments in the agriculture sector, which forms the backbone of the Kenyan economy.

Since independence, Kenya has developed only 450,000 acres of land under irrigation, which means the new project could realise in five years what the country has been unable to achieve in five decades.

“We are here to address challenges of food security, with associated high cost of living, rising food-driven inflation, poverty and growing social and political instability,” President Kenyatta said at the January 9 launch.

The project is to be implemented in partnership with the private sector over the next five years, with Agriculture Secretary Felix Koskei under strict instructions to make sure it is delivered on time and within budget.

“2014 is the year that the Jubilee manifesto comes alive. It is the year that many of the projects we launched last year will take off. Time for familiarisation is over, and you have got to deliver. Those who fail to do that will have to pack and go,” the President warned members of his Cabinet. (READ: Non-performing ministers will be sacked)

In the Vision 2030 blueprint, the country set itself a target of putting 80,000 acres of land under irrigation each year for 12.5 years beginning in July 2013, in order to achieve the million-acre programme target by 2025, a feat the new project seeks to achieve in five years.

Over-reliance on rain for agriculture production is blamed for pushing food prices beyond the reach of the majority of Kenya’s more than 40 million people.

In the first phase, the goal is to double maize production that currently averages 38 million bags a year against a consumption demand of 41 million bags. The nearly two-million-acre Galana Ranch, from which the government seeks to hive off 1.2 million acres, spans Tana River and Kilifi counties that are predominantly semi-arid.

The ranch was set up in 1968 as a game reserve and trading company before it was acquired by the government through the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) to create a buffer zone between Tsavo National Park and the surrounding communities.

The ADC has been using it as a camping site, a cattle ranch, an off-take management site during drought spells, as well as for the production of biogas.

Under the Sh250 billion Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, the government is to develop basic irrigation infrastructure and roads linking the scheme to Malindi Airport and the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor.

“My government will create favourable conditions for the participation of private sector players, as well as offer requisite resources for provision of key infrastructure,” President Kenyatta said.

But the project is expected for face challenges in developing a working relationship between the central government and those of Kilifi and Tana River counties.

Local leaders welcomed the project, but on the condition that 70 per cent of jobs derived from the scheme benefit the host counties. (EDITORIAL: Ensure success of new mega irrigation project)

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi said contentious issues in the project would be ironed out, adding that the scheme would revive stalled projects like the construction of the Malindi-Sala gate, the Kilifi-Lango Baya roads, and other projects.

MODERN INVESTMENTS

He also urged the Agriculture Ministry to consider making out-grower farmers the immediate beneficiaries of the project.

The project targets modern investments in the improvement of livestock and crop production, the optimisation of eco-tourism activities and the sustainable use of natural resources.

A further objective is to integrate agro-industries into the development of the ranch and support modern production methods in the surrounding communities.

Animal feeds are to be produced, processed and conserved year-round and will be available to pastoralists throughout the year. (READ: Million-acre food plan takes off)

As an outreach extension service, farmers will be assisted to conserve their own pasture through the provision of hay baling services at affordable prices.

“This project will turn around the economic fortunes of Kilifi and Tana River through the creation of up to 3 million jobs,” Cabinet Secretary Koskei said in an earlier interview.

The Galana/Kulalu food security project is half the size of Sudan’s two-million-acre Gezira irrigation project, one of the largest developments in the world created over half a century ago.