President William Ruto witnesses the signing of MoU with UAE's Al Dahra by Water and Irrigation CS Eric Muga at State House, February 12, 2025. /PCSKenya has signed a deal with Abu Dhabi’s Al Dahra agribusiness company to expand the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project.
President William Ruto witnessed the signing of the MoU at State House, Nairobi on Wednesday.
"Irrigation is a key pillar of our food security value chain. Our plan is to ensure increased agricultural production and productivity to feed the nation," the President said.
Galana Kulalu Food Security project is located in the coastal region within Kilifi and Tana River counties.
The $52,670,000 (Sh6.79bn) project by the government in partnership with the private sector is expected to end Kenya's perennial Maize shortage.
The National Irrigation Authority is the implementing agency.
"We are building on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates to initiate development, including irrigation projects, that impacts the lives of Kenyans," Ruto said.
The Galana project has faced challenges in implementation and delayed its initial completion timelines.
In 2019, the project stalled after the government terminated the contractor.
Maize is the staple food in Kenya with an annual maize consumption of 48 million bags.
On completion, the project is expected to meet the country's 41 per cent annual maize consumption demand.
It is also set to be the biggest in east and southern Africa and a major milestone for Kenya in attaining food security.
In December last year, Irrigation PS, Ephantus Kimotho, said the government was in talks with Al Dahra to lease farmland to the company as part of plans to boost Kenya's food security.
He said the company would invest about $800 million (Sh103 million) to farm 200,000 acres of land at Galana.
“We are still negotiating, but we might soon sign a memorandum of understanding,” Kimotho told Bloomberg, indicating that the deal would be signed soon.
In January 2023, the President issued a directive for Galana project to move forward under implementation of the project through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement models.
Production on the already developed 10,000 acres, and an additional 10,000 acres in the medium term.
The aspects to be implemented under PPP included production on the already developed 10,000 acres, and an additional 10,000 acres in the medium term.
The deal would also involve construction of Galana Dam to support another 350,000 acres for food production in the long term.
China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC – Kenya) submitted a Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) to construct the Galana Dam, National Irrigation Authority said.
"Their PIP was approved to move to the Project Development Phase, according to the PPP Act 2021," the gency said.
The Dam is designed to hold 306 million cubic meters of water and will be crucial in supporting agricultural activities on another 350,000 acres designated for food production.
The authority said Selu Ltd submitted a PIP to undertake production and after it was approved to move to the Project Development Phase, they embarked on trials on the already developed 10,000 acres.
"Their proposal was successfully evaluated and negotiations concluded. The project agreement drafting is currently ongoing. Once the agreement is finalised, it will be initialised, presented to the PPP committee for approval then Attorney General before it is signed and rolled out," the authority said.