• PS Harsama said Kenya is currently importing virtually all kinds of foods including rice, maize and wheat.
• Harsama said the country is importing more than 900,000 metric tonnes of rice and edible oil worth Sh130 billion annually.
Image: FILE
The national government has stepped up efforts to revive the Tana Delta Irrigation Project to boost food security.
The project targets to produce 84,000 metric tonnes of rice from 30,000 acres.
Tana and Athi River Development Authority has since rehabilitated water delivery systems to support 500 acres of rice to be produced in this financial year through a public-private partnership.
President William Ruto commissioned the TDIP on July 27, 2023, and a private investor is keen on increasing the rice production to 500 acres up from the previous 100 acres at the test farm.
On Tuesday, Tarda hosted ASALs and Regional Development PS Kello Harsama and Roads PS Joseph Mbugua for an inspection tour of the work progress at the project.
During the tour, the PSs confirmed that Tarda constructed a 150-metre channel to supply adequate water to the intake canal at Kitere and subsequently to the farm and desilted 20km of the Kitere channel to Sailoni reservoir.
Further, the authorities rehabilitated the Tana Delta Main Canal and other secondary and tertiary canals.
More work is ongoing including planting of rice, opening up of the access roads and expansion of the canals to allow more production.
Addressing journalists after the tour, Harsama said TDIP was a strategic project.
“It is a project that involves a partnership between the government of Kenya and an investor organisation called Agri All African Limited and the purpose is to grow rice which we have seen has successfully taken place,” he said.
Harsama said the project will be done in phases starting in the first phase of 500 acres to 4000 acres, before they embark on the larger plan to plant rice on 30,000 acres.
“You can imagine thousands of people who are going to be employed here so the local community will also enjoy. We come here as a government to urge the locals to own this project because they are going to enjoy all the opportunities ,” he said.
The PS said Kenya is currently importing virtually all kinds of foods including rice, maize and wheat.
“The President has told us this issue of food import should stop because we have the capacity to produce all this food in this country and this is what is happening here,” he said.
Harsama said the country is importing more than 900,000 metric tonnes of rice and edible oil worth Sh130 billion annually.
The aim, he said, is to ensure the money used to import the food is used in the country for people to grow rice, wheat and sunflower.
He said they will put security infrastructure including housing and welfare of security personnel.
The Roads PS said they will open up the road networks within the TDIP to ease the movement of the products from the farm to the main road.
Mbugua said they are happy with the progress of the projects and promised to move with speed to ensure the roads are upgraded.
“We are excited to be here to witness what is happening in this part of the country. As the PS in charge of roads, our key agenda was to see the accessibility to our main corridor,” he said.
Mbugua said they have found out that a lot needs to be done to ensure the produce from the farm will not go to waste as a result of the inaccessibility of the farm by machinery and the inability of the products to the market.
The PS said they will support the investor to ensure the area is accessible so as not to lose the investment laid down there.
Already, companies eyeing the rice products have started flocking the area to begin plans of buying the rice.
Michael Otakainis from Grain Connect company that buys rice and peas said they are monitoring the rice production with a view of doing business with the farmers.
He said they used to buy rice in Hola and Bura but with the revival of TDIP, they will get more rice.
“Previously, this area used to produce basmati rice, we even have a factory but the farming stopped. All residents depended on rice farming for food but when it collapsed, people suffered. The revival of the project it is bringing hope to the people,” he said.
Residents interviewed said the revival of the project has created employment for over 200 people and the number is expected to rise.