150,000 more acres for horticulture:
Kenya: Galana irrigation scheme a step in the right direction
Yet 50 years after independence, millions of Kenyans go to bed hungry, while others have learnt to live on half-fed stomachs. Even though a sizeable fraction of Kenya’s land is arable, it is by now clear that rain-fed agriculture is not sufficient to feed the country.
The shortage caused by over-reliance on rains for agricultural production has raised food prices beyond the reach of a majority of the population. This has not only affected economic productivity of the under-fed populace, but it has also created a security crisis by putting the survival of millions of poor youth in uncertainty.
The kind of big thinking that the Jubilee government has showed by deciding to roll out the huge project is precisely the kind of radical action needed to help Kenya achieve its development ambitions.
If completed within five years as planned, Kenya will have 500,000 more acres of land under maize, 300,000 acres under sugarcane, 200,000 acres under beef and game animals, 150,000 acres under horticulture, 100,000 acres under dairy farming and 50,000 acres under fruit production.
This is set to not only transform the national food sufficiency equation, but it will also significantly alter the national economic outlook.
Spin-off agricultural processing and value addition enterprises are likely to create thousands of jobs while at the same time lowering the cost of living by reducing the cost of food, which is the biggest component in Kenyans’ consumption basket.
The suggestion by agriculture secretary, Felix Koskei, that the project be done through public private partnerships is also another creative way of addressing the major challenge that previous governments have faced, that of insufficient funding.
Going by the kind of money changing hands at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the real estate sector and even consumption of goods and services, it is clear that there is a lot of money in Kenya today that only requires solid investment proposals, such as this irrigation project.
Source: businessdailyafrica.com