Raila launches Sh 20 Billion Irrigation Program in Turkana

Kenya’s efforts towards enabling food security received a major boost when Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sealed a deal which  will see over 10,000 hectares of  land in Turkana put under irrigation.

Under the Lake Turkana Integrated Development Programme, Kshs. 20 Billion will be used to irrigate farms  in Todonyang  with the aim of producing maize, sorghum, vegetables and fruits.

Accompanied by the General Manager of the National Irrigation Board, Eng. Daiel Barasa, Raila underlined the significance of agriculture in uplifting the living standards of the mwananchi. “Agriculture is critical to economic growth. Majority of our people see farming as their only source of income and avenue to prosperity,” he said during the launch of the project.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in Kenya in January next year to inaugurate what will become Kenya’s largest irrigation scheme

Odinga further  revealed that the Israeli government had pledged to provide technical support aside from funding the project.  Raila sealed the deal at a meeting with Israel's Minister for Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Shimhon in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Water and Irrigation minister Charity Ngilu was also in attendance in the meeting

The PM said the government is determined to introduce irrigated agriculture among pastoral communities in northern Kenya as a way of weaning them from pastoralism.

To promote agricultural productivity, the government, through the National Irrigation Board plans to increase the area under irrigation and drainage from the current 140,000ha to 1.2 million ha in 2030, an expansion of irrigation acreage by 48,000ha (34%) per year.