Heavy rains slow down Galana project

A thousand acres of maize have been planted at the Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme even as bad weather slowed down the mega-project.

The National Irrigation Board (NIB) says it is aiming to plant up to 3,000 acres by September and to have covered all the 10,000 acres of the model one million-acre farm by December.

“We have so far planted on 1,000 acres, but progress has been slow as the exercise has been affected by the heavy rains in the region,” said NIB chairman Sammy Letema.

Mr Letema says the first harvest is expected in August as the variety of maize that has been planted takes three months to mature.

The project is behind schedule as the Jubilee government was aiming to cover a million acres by 2017.

Israeli firm Green Arava won the Sh14 billion contract to develop the model farm using the latest technology borrowed from their country.

Phase two of the project to cover 200,000 acres will start as soon as the model farm is completed next year, while phase three is expected to put the entire acreage under crops.

The Galana project is expected to cut Kenya’s reliance on rain-fed agriculture that is blamed for the country’s perennial food shortages by employing technology to cut the rising cost of production.

The ministry of Agriculture projects that Galana will reduce the price of flour from the current average of Sh95 to Sh70 for a two-kilogramme packet.

Green Arava expects a minimum of 80 bags of maize from an acre with good farming practice.

The Sh260 billion Galana project is a public-private partnership in which the government will be providing infrastructural services while investors are expected to plant crops and set up processing plants.

The Agriculture ministry is evaluating a list of 80 local and international investors who have applied to lease land at the scheme.

Foreign investors top the list of firms lined up for the project.