- Kenya plans to put an additional 1.5 million acres under irrigation
- Government is targeting commercial and small-scale farmers in the expansion
- New irrigation schemes aim to reduce reliance on rainfall and climate variability
Kenya plans to bring an additional 1.5 million acres of farmland under irrigation as it moves to cut its reliance on rainfed agriculture.
State Department for Irrigation Principal Secretary Ephantus Kimotho said the Government had drawn up a roadmap to shift farming away from dependence on rainfall. He said expanding irrigation, harvesting more water and making farm technologies affordable would be critical to raising food production. These measures, he added, would also help farmers withstand climate variability.
“We’ve come up with a clear plan on how to transform rainfed agriculture to irrigated agriculture. This plan has outlined 1.5 million acres which we want to put under irrigation and has five key pathways,” he said.
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Among the pathways is large scale commercial farming, which is expected to take up a substantial share of the new land. According to Kimotho, the National Irrigation Authority is driving several flagship schemes under this approach. Further capacity will come from dams currently under development, which are expected to open up more land for commercial production.
At the same time, the plan does not leave smaller farmers behind. Kimotho said attention would also turn to small scale irrigation farmers, who make up a large part of the country’s farming community and often feel the effects of erratic weather first.
Taken together, the measures reflect a push to make food production more predictable and less exposed to the vagaries of the weather.
By Benedict Aoya
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