The government will put an extra 200,000 acres across all the ten rice growing counties under irrigation to boost rice production, President William Ruto has said.
He said this will help minimise rice importation, enhance food security and help increase profitability for farmers.
"We import 900,000 tons yet we have 200,000 acres of land that can be resourceful if brought under rice cultivation and help boost the production, profitability for our farmers and enhance food security," the President said.
He spoke on Saturday during the commissioning of the newly built Thiba dam which he termed as a game changer in rice production in Kenya.
Ruto said Kenya produces about 240,000 tons of rice and imports 900,000 tons to bridge the deficit consumption deficit.
He said through the dam which can hold 15 million cubic meters of water, rice production would increase from an annual average of 110,000 tons to 200,000 tons.
Ruto said with the optimisation of the reservoir, profitability for farmers would shoot from Sh10 billion to Sh18 billion.
Kirinyaga is the leading rice producer in the country accounting for 84 per cent of the the total production.
The President said that by December, the government will have made available subsidised fertiliser to support the continuous quality and quantity rice production.
He said the national government in collaboration with the county government will spend Sh600 million towards the completion of proper canals across the scheme.