Rice farmers upbeat as Siaya County funds milling plant construction

There is light at the end of the tunnel for rice growers in the low-lying areas of Usonga in Siaya County following the groundbreaking of a milling plant.

The Usonga ecosystem is very ideal for rice farming as it lies somewhere between the gigantic River Nzoia and Lake Kanyaboli.

During heavy rains, Usonga gets flooded and lives get disrupted but this favours rice farming.

For a very long time the people of Usonga have been growing the high potential crop but with little prospects, since they have had to sell the produced unprocessed.

Their unprocessed crop would be sold cheaply as paddy to middlemen from Uganda who in turn processed and re-sold to the people of Siaya at a hiked price.

This story is posed to change following the start of the construction of the much-desired processing plant at Siriwo in Usonga last Thursday.

The project will cost Sh60 million and the money is already available in the current financial year.

We are doing this in respect with our desire to have a product of Siaya and make the populace food secure, Siaya Governor James Orengo said during the groundbreaking ceremony.

Since being installed as the county chief, Orengo has been bemoaning the reality that Siaya, despite its big name, has not had any industry.

With the project in the pipeline, Orengo remained upbeat even as he urged locals to be twice as good and interested in the rice farming value chain to make the machine that is being set up.

“We are leveraging on agriculture’s potential to make our county food secure and commercially viable,” Orengo stated.

Locals of Usonga sell their unfinished products to middlemen at Sh55 per kilogram and not all have warmed up to the activity or given it their best shot.

The governor assured farmers that the price will eventually increase and make farming more lucrative once the Siriwo Rice Mill gathers steam.

“I will be very happy to see a rice labelled ‘Usonga Rice’ once the miller starts operating. Siaya County is known for greatness and we must do our best because that is who we are,” Orengo told the people in Nyadorera.

The devolved unit said that it is keen on mechanization of agriculture beginning with production all the way up to processing and distribution.

The construction works will involve fencing at Mulwa Rice drying floor at Sh3.4 million and a machine at Sh31 million.

The building that will house the mill will cost Sh14.75 million and Sh5 million more for the drainage system.

Agriculture and Irrigation executive Sylvester K’Okoth noted that the acreage currently under rice production (1,314 acres) is not enough to sustain the project.

He called on farmers to expand their farms for rice farming to at least 3,078 acres to be able to serve the factory which will have the potential of processing 8,000 metric tons of the crop in a single year.

The Siriwo Rice Milling Plant will majorly rely on the Usonga Rice Cooperative Society for the supply of fresh produce.

“This is a life-changing project that in the long-term will reduce the overreliance of our people on the government for support,” said Usonga MCA Sylvester Madialo.

Rice production in Siaya has been done since the 1970s mainly through the Mulwa (within Bunyala) and Anyiko Ujwanga Kathieno Irrigation schemes.

The Bunyala Irrigation Scheme covers both Siaya and Busia counties and is practised in a 3200-acre space of land; 1200 of which is on the Siaya side.

The county government of Siaya projects that there are 800 acres more for the expansion of rice farming and is promising to support farmers with cheap tractor hire services, and provision of inputs.

“The groundbreaking ceremony marks a new beginning in making the rice value chain competitive and viable,” Orengo said.

He cautioned that the management structure should value the interest of the farmer for they are the backbone of the project, and without whom it will flop.