Jubilee Development - Third Galana-Kulalu project harvest nets 103,000 bags of maize

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By Patrick Alushula | Updated Tue, February 7th 2017 at 00:00 GMT +3

The third harvest of Galana-Kulalu Irrigation scheme has delivered 103,000 bags of maize. This comes as the State considers doubling the project’s acreage next March. According to Planning and Design Chief Engineer and project manager Thuita Mwangi, the third harvest from 2,500 acres delivered 93,860 bags with more from 250 acres undergoing final drying. This will push the harvest to 103,860 bags. This harvest is set to more than double in the next harvest in December as the team of engineers in charge of the project plan to expand from 4,000 acres to 10,000 acres by March. “At planting we are at 40 per cent but on infrastructure, we are at 80 per cent. We expect to complete infrastructure for the model farm by March this year. We will plant the entire 10,000 acres and finalize harvesting by December,” Eng Mwangi told The Standard. The engineer said average production had improved to about 31 bags (each of 90 kilogrammes) from one acre. This compares positively with the national average of 18 bags per acre. From a disappointing harvest of 5,582 bags during second harvest as a result of destruction by El Niño rains, the latest production comes as a morale booster to the State’s quest for a food-secure country. Residents of Tana River, Kilifi and Taita counties have become the first beneficiaries of the third harvest. Last week, a team from the National Irrigation Board (NIB) and local leaders flagged off 10,000 bags of the harvest to some of the drought-stricken areas in Taita Taveta, Tana River and Kilifi counties. supply order. This was the first phase of delivery, as the officials cited lack of storage facilities in the remote villages as reason for discharging it in turns. Last year, the project gave 40,000 bags of maize to families in Tana River and Kilifi counties. Apart from the relief, Eng Mwangi said NIB had also received an order from Strategic Grain Reserve office to supply 33,000 bags to boost maize reserves. In addition, State department for Special Programmes has placed an order for 62,000 bags from the latest harvest. For the first three years that the project has been on model, 124,132 bags have been harvested. The Sh7.29 billion project was to be implemented in phases. The first phase was to do 5,000 acres of model farm, and then extend to 10,000, and so on. The initial stages saw over 13 varieties of maize tried out but the project implementers have so far narrowed down to four varieties with promising returns. Kenya imports about 3 million bags of maize. Assuming the current productivity level of 31 bags on every acre, doing just 100,000 acres of the project can make Kenya a food surplus nation and trigger need for exporting. However, the project can only reach 30,000 acres with current facilities beyond which a two-trillion-litre dam would be required. This, Eng Mwangi adds, can only be completed in six years from the time construction will begin. “To construct that dam will take six years. Once we do it, we can call private investors to put up the entire area under irrigation,” he said.
Read more at: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001228507/echoes-of-past-as-midiwo-betting-bill-goes-after-foreign-investors

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This is good news we should have more projects like this kenya should be self sustaining

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This is good .positive results

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waanze kutama north eastern

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This is a good trial project. If we would invest in construction of dams in Maybe one dam shared by two counties then I think we would have solved water problems in our country. My opinion though

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Githeri tutakula bila jokes

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This is what we call progress. If irrigation was implemented in all other ASAL counties, we’ll never hear of sirkal saidia

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It’s been hardwork against the noise of serial critics and doomsayers. Remember this project was almost stopped in Parliament and court. This trial 10000 acres farm was necessary before the full 250,000 acres would be implemented. Government picked Israel experts to do the trial project. I remember in the Parliament committee where MPs told them they cant farm in that harsh area and they are wasting public funds. Well their answer was gold, if they can farm in a desert back at home then that harsh area is actually paradise to them. They toured their kibutz in Israel and the debate ended since.

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This is good. I think this is more impactful to Kenyans and the economy than infrastructure projects.

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This is great.

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still skeptical. I still insist that the problem in Kenya is not lack of maize, but cartel like behavior that cause shortages. It would have been more impactful if they were targeted projects in major maize growing regions, not one big white elephant gobbling up billions of shillings

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If Israel and other middle eastern countries can farm in the desert then we Kenyans and the rest of Africa should be ashamed when we can’t feed our own people

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Boss, barabara ni muhimu, otherwise those hundreds of thousands of harvests would not get to market on time. Uliza ni kwa nini wakulima wanalia barabara ni mbaya huko mashinani

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In Kenya like most African countries, 30% of the harvested crops go to waste due to infrastructure challenges. Another 30% are waste away due to poor storage. Only 40% is properly utilized.

With global warming, future farming and food security will depend on irrigation not rain feed farming. Ofcourse critics never think of the future but what they can complain about now. Right now our bread basket of North Rift/Western shows declining yields per acre due to less rain, less nutritious soils and lack of crop rotation. Growing the same same crop in the same land and using more fertilizers. They need to shift to sunflower, beans, horticulture, vegetables and fruits for a few seasons inorder to naturally replenish soil nutrients. Ultimately let cereals and sugar be grown in large scale irrigation projects that can be harvested severally a year and at much cheaper cost of production.

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Where is the maize from that irrigation scheme stored?

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It’s not stored there but sold immediately to Strategic grain reserves. The silos would have costed 4 billion so CS Wamalwa cancelled that plan at this trial stage. It will be implemented by the successful investor when the full 500000 acre project is awarded.

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It amazes me how Kenyans are oblivious to the various projects going on in our country. Its only when the media highlights it that people act all surprised and suddenly become experts.

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