Galana irrigation scheme holds big promise for Kenya’s food security

For years, the Giriama and Oromo communities existed with the man-eating lions of Tsavo East National Park as neighbours and all they knew was wilderness until the National Irrigation Board (NIB) started the one-million-acre Galana irrigation project.

Galana was a sleepy region, with the Giriamas practising small-scale farming along the Galana River and their Oromo counterparts keeping a few indigenous animals.

As NIB expects its first Galana Kulalu harvest of 20,000 bags of maize this week from the first crop on 500 acres that was planted in May, the previously subsistence farmers are counting the economic gains of the schemes.

The maiden harvest heralds an era of low maize prices in the Kenyan market and lower cost of food production.

When the one-milion-acre Galana project was conceived, it seemed like a pipe dream. How would the semi-arid region feed millions of Kenyans and end food insecurity? Four years on, the project has started bearing fruit.

The Oromo and Giriama are now growing tomatoes and cucumbers for sale under greenhouses given by the NIB and rearing high-yielding livestock. Their produce is in high demand. The farmers sell it in Galana and very little reaches markets in Malindi.

The Oroma pastoralists now keep high-yield cow breeds that produce more milk and meat, improving their earnings.

NIB has also constructed water pans for the animals and the community is no longer moving in search of water as it is typical of pastoralist societies.   

As the maiden harvest from part of the 10,000 model farm gets under way this week, it is evident that Kenya can be a food secure country if it cuts reliance on rain- fed agriculture and embrace irrigation farming.

The irrigated farm has also fulfilled one of its promises; increasing food production under an acreage of land.

On one acre, Galana farm will produce 40 bags of maize, higher than the national average of 17 bags that farmers in the country’s grain basket of Rift Valley harvest from the same size of land.

READ: NIB plans dam to irrigate 500,000 acres at Galana

The number of bags per acre is expected to go up with subsequent harvests after the trials on more than 10 seed varieties that were planted identified the breed that would yield the most. NIB will plant the high-yielding seed variety in the next planting season.

According to Israeli firm, Green Arava, which has been contracted to develop the 10,000-acre model farm, the target is 80 bags of maize from an acre.

Israel, despite half of it being a desert, has emerged as one of the leading countries in terms of food exports and production. This is in contrast with Kenya, which is 28 times bigger than Israel, with huge chunk of arable land, but still sufferers from perennial food shortages.

The Middle East country has embraced the latest technology in irrigation to feed her population and export the surplus to the world market.

Seeking to tap the technology, Kenya has contracted Israeli farms in Galana for the expertise as the country bets on irrigated farms to boost food production.

About 70 per cent of local farmers are small-scale holders and do not enjoy economies of scale both in acquiring farming inputs and at the time of selling, making them incur high cost of production, pushing up the cost of maize and other cereals like wheat.

A recent report by the Egerton-based Tegemeo Institute notes that to reduce the high cost of production, the government should seek other options such as irrigation.

A farmer using irrigation makes a profit of Sh8,495 per acre while a grower dependant on rain-fed agriculture earn Sh5,003 as profit from the same field, the research notes.

“Irrigated maize comes with high output, high income and high profit in comparable fields,” said Dennis Otieno, a researcher with Tegemeo.

Dr Otieno said the price change does not affect the cost of production and that irrigated farms have the potential to produce two to three crops annually. Most farmers plant twice a year but with many regions experiencing erratic rains, production has dropped.

The Agriculture ministry is betting on irrigated farms to tame perennial food shortage and stop the importation of maize, which will eventually cut down the cost of commodities. Only 20 per cent of the land in Kenya is under irrigation.

Kenya has a deficit of 20 million bags annually and NIB general manager Daniel Barasa believes that 200,000 acres of land under maize would be enough to bridge the deficit and slash imports from Uganda and Tanzania.

“By cultivating 250,000 acres of Galana Kulalu complex, we would have met 41 per cent of the country’s annual maize consumption of 48 million bags, hence providing enough maize to bridge the deficit,” said Mr Barasa.

He said maize would be grown for one season every year so as to regulate supply and curb a glut.

The farm will also embrace crop rotation where other types of crops will be grown to ensure that the market is not flooded.

Mr Barasa said food from Galana would be cheaper because the farm will employ the latest technology in growing the crops as well as processing, hence reducing the cost of production.

“This is a mechanised project— from planting to processing— and the use of machines will play a significant role in cutting down the cost of production,” he said. 

The model farm has shown that the cost of production under irrigation is cheaper by 40 per cent compared to the conventional way of planting maize, a good indicator that once large scale production starts, it will push down the cost of food.

The model farm is being used as a demonstration block for developing the entire one million acres set aside for irrigation.

Phase two of the project, which will cover 200,000 acres will commence as soon as a mega dam is completed to irrigate the first crops on the 500,000 acres, while phase three is expected to put 300,000 acreage to use.

It is estimated that large-scale production on the farm will start in the next three years after NIB secures Sh250 billion for the construction of a dam and other infrastructural amenities such as roads, airports and offices.

NIB site engineer Henry Ocheire said they are seeking funds to construct the dam as the current flow of River Galana can only irrigate 20,000 acres.

The project was supposed to cover one million acres at the beginning but feasibility studies have indicated that the available water from the river has a capacity to irrigate 500,000 acres when it is dammed.

Mr Ocheire noted that to irrigate the entire one million acres, they would need to tap water from the High Grand Falls in River Tana, which is 200 kilometres away.

“Eventually, we shall put the entire one million acres under crop cover once we tap the water from High Grand Falls dam,” said Mr Ocheire. The two billion cubic meters dam will be set up on the Galana River in the next financial year after the completion of the current model farm that covers 10,000 acres.

READ: Israel firm to install milling plant at the Galana-Kulalu scheme

Galana, a Sh260 billion project, is a public private partnership and the government is expected to provide infrastructure services while the investors plant crops and set up manufacturing factories for processing their produce.

Foreign investors have topped the list of firms lined up for the project.

The project has attracted 80 local and international investors who had sent applications to lease land at the Sh260 billion scheme.

Mr Barasa said the government is evaluating the list. The applicants include firms from Brazil, Australia and China which have expressed interest in deploying technology to boost food production.

All crops coming from Galana will have to be processed on the farm and ferried to the supermarket shelves.

“None of the produce from the scheme will get to the market without adding value. We are doing this so that we can lower the high cost of food in the country,” he said.

A multi-million shilling maize milling has been procured and will be installed on the farm starting next month to enable processing of flour that is expected from Galana.

The state-of-the-art facility can process and package the flour for sale immediately after leaving the farm.

Other farming activities expected at Galana include sugarcane growing, fish projects, horticulture as well as cattle fattening.

But Galana’s success does not come without challenges. The project is facing financing headaches.

In the last three years, the Treasury has allocated about Sh3.5 billion to Galana, money that is inadequate to fund the capital-intensive project.