Investors to build factories on irrigated farms

Farmers drying maize in Eldoret. The minister said 200,000 acres will be under sugar cane, 500,000 acres for maize and 150,000 acres for ranches. FILE 

By GERALD ANDAE, gandae@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Agriculture Secretary Felix Koskei says only partners committed to value addition would be considered to lease the land under the Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme.
• The government will lease the land to private investors for selected agricultural activities on condition that they set up factories for processing.
• The Galana project that is estimated to cost in excess of Sh250 billion, will start in March this year with 10,000 acres as a pilot project.

 

Investors partnering with the government in the one-million acre Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme will be required to process produce on the farm to create jobs and enhance food security.

Agriculture Secretary Felix Koskei said only partners committed to value addition would be considered to lease the land under the



scheme in Tana River which is being launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday.

“None of the produce from the scheme will get to the market without adding value. We are doing this so that we can lower the high cost of food in the country,” said Mr Koskei.  

The government will lease the land to private investors for selected agricultural activities on condition that they set up factories for processing.

Under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) the government will develop irrigation and other infrastructure, including roads linking the scheme to Malindi airport and the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor.

Mr Koskei said 200,000 acres will be put under sugar cane, 500,000 acres under maize and 150,000 acres would be reserved for ranching and a game reserve. Fruit orchards, horticulture, and dairying would be assigned 50,000 acres each.

READ: One-million-acre irrigation project to be launched in January

Kenya has an annual sugar deficit of 340,000 tonnes which is imported from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) states.

Millers attribute the shortage to decreasing cane supply in the face of competition for the commodity by crushers

.

“We have always been hit by the shortage of cane in the country and this move will create a solution to the challenge,” said West Kenya Sugar Company chairman Rai Tajveer, adding that the company was considering leasing land and putting up a factory in the former Agricultural Development Corporation land.

The Galana project that is estimated to cost in excess of Sh250 billion, will start in March this year with 10,000 acres as a pilot project. The State targets a million acres under irrigation in the next five years.

Food security

The government has allocated Sh3.6 billion in the current financial year for the irrigation project.

The Galana-Kulalu ranch was acquired by the ADC in 1989 from the Galana Game and Trading Company. It was supposed to reduce human-wildlife conflict by forming a buffer zone between the Tsavo East National Park and the local communities.

The irrigation is intended to address poverty in the area and enhance food security with maize output from the pilot expected to be 30 million bags. Kenya now produces 38 million bags.