History of the Scheme

Bura pump station

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Project started in 1978
• First group of farmers settled in 1981
• Farmers households 2245 in 10 villages
• Scheme size 6250 acres(2500 Ha)
• Farm holding per farmer 1.25 Ha(3 acres) for main crops

    0.05Ha (0.125 acres) for vegetables

• Irrigation water abstraction through pumping from Tana river
• Major crops at scheme inception  -Cotton, Maize
• Major crops at present -Maize, Seed Maize,Cotton,Chilies (Paprika),Horticultural crops (watermelons, Tomatoes and onions)

History of the Scheme

Senior Manager of Mwea Scheme

Mwea Irrigation Scheme is situated in Kirinyaga district, in Central province of Kenya. The Scheme is about 100 Km South East of Nairobi. Farming in the scheme started in 1956, rice has been the predominant crop in the scheme. The scheme has a gazetted area of 30,350 acres. A total of 16,000 acres has been developed for paddy production. The rest of the scheme is used for settlement, public utilities, subsistence and horticultural crops farming. The scheme is served by two main rivers VIZ Nyamindi and Thiba rivers. Irrigation water is abstracted from the rivers by gravity by the help of fixed intake weirs, conveyed and distributed in the scheme via unlined open channels. There is a link canal joining the two rivers which transfers water from Nyamindi to Thiba River which serves about 80% of the scheme. Land tenure is on tenancy basis. Since inception till 1998 the scheme was being run by various government agencies. In 1998, the scheme management was taken over by a Mwea Rice Farmer’s cooperative society MRGM. However, the farmers realized that they could not go it alone due to:

• Unskilled personnel
• Lack of finances
• Lack of machinery for scheme maintenance.

During this brief period when scheme was run by cooperative the infrastructure deteriorated and tail enders could not crop. In 2003, the farmers approached the government for assistance in the scheme management.

 

Perkerra Irrigation Scheme is situated 100kms North Nakuru near Marigat Township in Baringo District. It derived its name from the River Perkerra which is the source of irrigation water and the only permanent river in the District.

 

 

 

 

• Farmers households 730 with the majority having 3 to 4 acres of farm land and 0.5 acre of village plot settlement

• Directly dependant population is approximately 13,000 people

• The scheme lies in a semi-arid climate condition with an annual average rainfall of 630mm. Soils are light silt to clay loam and are moderately alkaline with an average of 7.5 and little organic matter.

• The first crop of onions was planted in 1956

• Crops initially grown in the scheme -bulbed onions, dried chillies and watermelons, pawpaw’s

• In 1996, scheme farmers started planting seed maize crop abandoning the above crops due to marketing problems

• The scheme has a other neighbouring schemes; Eldume, Sandai, Kamoskoi, and Kapkuikui irrigation schemes which are community based and have their own sources of irrigation water.

History of the Scheme

Tana irrigation is the oldest NIB scheme.

• Project started in 1953. It was started back by colonial Government as a holding camp for detainee labour
• The scheme gazetted area is 4800ha (12,000 acres) but the already developed area for farming purpose was only 900ha (2500 acres)
• Farmers households 700 in 6 villages
• Main cash crops grown; Cotton with other crops i.e.; groundnuts, maize intercropped with cowpeas
• Agricultural activities stopped way back in 1989 when river Tana (the main source of water) naturally changed course at the Laini water intake points
  Rehabilitation of the scheme 
  Since 1990 when farming came to a standstill, the Government has tried a number of measures to revive the scheme. The first step towards achieving this goal was realized when the Government acquired funds from BADEA( an Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa) to conduct a feasibility study for the scheme ( GIBBS 2003) After successful feasibility study, the donor ( in partnership with GoK) pledged to rehabilitate the scheme with funds in the tune of Kshs. 500 million. This was to cover phase 1 of the rehabilitation programme, which focused on the earlier, developed 900ha (2500 acres). There were further proposals to have the scheme expanded by developing an extra 2500ha during the phase 11 of the scheme’s rehabilitation programme. Similarly, plans are underway to consider developing gravity systems for the scheme( either Hola alone or for both Hola and Bura irrigation schemes). 
  Update of Phase 1 Scheme Reahabilitation Programme 
  Tender for the rehabilitation was awarded to Kundan Singh Construction Company Ltd and the following works were completed by the contractor;

•  Installation of new Makere 11 pump station with 3 generator sets, 10 3301/sec centrifugal pumps, sedimentation basin and river bank protection works.
• Construction of 6km new reach Makere 11 main canal and 17km along Hola main canal
• Rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure in irrigation areas 11,1v,and v all with 1250 acres which included installation of water distribution canals, water control structures; gates,bridgres and drainage system
• A total of 650 farmers were resettled back in irrigation areas 111, 1v and v. Another 46 farmers have been allocated 3 acreseach in irrigation area 1 bringing to a total of 696 farmers resettled back in the rehabilitated scheme. In August 2009, His Excellency the President and the right honourable Prime Minister launched the production of maize crop in the scheme under ESP programme whereby a toatal of 2,000 tonnes of maize was realized.
• Rehabilitation of irrigation area 1 (1000 acres) and 2 (489 acres) reverted back to NIB and NYS respectively after the contractor ( Kundan Singh) failed to complete the works.

 

Launch of the West Kano scheme

The scheme operations stalled in the 1999/2000 cropping season due to depletion of the revolving funds following the 1998 Mwea crisis. The scheme was revived in the year 2003. The Phase One Crop covered 1158 out of the total 2229 acres, yielding 1615 tonnes of paddy worth KShs 42 million shillings. The Phase Two crop targeted the entire 2229 acres, of which 915 acres had been cropped before production was suspended to allow for installation of the new pumps. This yielded 1276 tonnes of paddy worth Kshs.33million

Introduction

MIAD officer in charge

MIAD Centre was established 1991 and 1996 through a Technical Cooperation program between the Governments of Kenya and the Government of Japan. Since the end of the Technical Cooperation period the Centre has been under the National Irrigation Board management. It has been established that unit rice yields in Mwea have declined over years as a result of soil exhaustion and overdependence on inorganic fertilizers. Soil fertility has generally declined due to land use practices that include continuous cultivation, nutrient extraction through crop harvest and inadequate nutrient replacement. Consequently, rice output in Kenya has decreased and does not meet demand (285,000t). The deficit (200,000t) is met by importing rice resulting to loss in foreign exchange currency. Importation of fertilizers as well as Soya beans adds to this loss hence locking up rice farmers in a vicious cycle of poverty. The scenario is further aggravated by presence of water borne diseases, among which, malaria is identified as the most serious problem followed by typhoid and Bilharzias in irrigated farming. Continuous presences of water on the ground in rice double crop system provide bleeding habitat for malaria vector and other water borne diseases besides deteriorating soil fertility. The ultimate high medical bills drain the hard gotten rice generated income.

Vision of MIAD
To be the leading institution in the development of efficient agricultural irrigation and drainage technologies in Kenya through research and training programs

Mission of MIAD
Conduct irrigated agricultural research and training to develop and transfer technologies for sustainable exploitation of available irrigation and drainage potential in Kenya for food security and creation of wealth and employment.

Main Objectives

• To conduct research with a view to increasing crop yields and quality.
• Develop technology to increase utilization of available resources through crop intensification and diversification
• Conduct research with a view to reducing various crop production cost
• Increase water use efficiency
• Search for ways and means of improving farmers health
• Capacity building in irrigated agricultural water management.