Can Galana Kulalu irrigation project solve Kenya’s food shortage?

Food Security, being one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda, has attracted more criticism than admiration due to a number of scandals in the Agriculture Ministry that is headed by Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri.

With a growing population and continued land degradation due to overgrazing, poor farming practices, deforestation and climate change, Kenya must also look to new ways to make farming more productive and profitable.

NCPB

Kenya is not performing as expected in ensuring sufficient food production for citizens as critics of Jubilee Government blame the President for doing little to curb loopholes in achieving the food security agenda.

National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) officials in Eldoret have been put to task over fraudulent payments, importation of maize from Mexico and association with traders who carted away millions of shillings at the expense of genuine farmers.

The officials were grilled by Senate committee investigating maize crisis after the members visited the North Rift NCPB regional depot on a fact-finding mission.

NCPB operations manager Jonah Marindich and regional manager Gilbert Rotich were unable to explain why the board bought 700,000 tonnes of maize on behalf of millers at the expense of farmers who had grains at their stores.

Opposition politician Moses Wetang’ula told the officials that on April 13 and October 17, 2017, maize from Mexico was allowed into the country, with the NCPB importing the produce.

President Uhuru had said legal action will be taken against NCPB officials who misused maize farmers' money and promised that funds had been set aside to pay maize farmers. Today, maize farmers are staring at poverty instead, with nowhere to sell their surplus produce as a result of challenges with NCPB.

Favourable weather conditions and last year’s defective maize flour subsidy programme have left farmers with more produce in the stores, but Kenyans are still hungry.

Galana Kulalu

Following poor management, the government has mulled over possible privatization to improve the outcome and boost the success of the Galana Kulalu project to achieve food security. In January 2018, the Government was preparing to hand over 10,000 acres of the expansive Galana Kulalu land to private investors to plant maize. Through the National Irrigation Board (NIB), which is managing all irrigation schemes in the country, the State finished laying the infrastructure to support the model farm.

Analysts had said the Government, through NIB, was right to hand part of the Galana Kulalu irrigation scheme to private developers. Initially, NIB could only manage to do with 5,000 to 10,000 acres. Galana Kulalu is a major farming project that can involve experts and make maximum use of the land and reduce maize flour prices.

However, the Government has again been criticized on its poor management of state projects, as seen in a June publication that stated it pours billions of shillings into black hole projects, among them the Galana Kulalu project. Despite coming up with a promising plan on how to improve Kenyans’ lives, the government pumped billions into unproductive projects that have for five years imbibed taxpayers’ cash and yield nothing.

As government struggles to ensure sufficient food supply for Kenyans, it’s also the responsibility of citizens and entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ways of kicking hunger out of the country.

All’s not lost

Whether getting it right or falling short, the government has put in place efforts to improve food security. The Government has moved to stem over-reliance on maize and subsequent consumption of ugali. Maize flour will be blended with millet, sorghum, cassava or amaranth, in a joint project involving the Government, millers and scholars.

The new blended flour is expected to hit the market in October. This emerged at a workshop on flour blending for food nutrition and security at Dairy Training Institute (DTI) in Naivasha. Jasper Imungi, a professor at the University of Nairobi, said the first phase of the project would target five blends to see if consumers would embrace the product. He said the cost of the blended flour would be determined by market forces, adding that the pilot project had already kicked off.

NCPB also plays a role in supplying farm inputs to farmers, for example supply of subsidized fertilizer to farmers on behalf of government during planting season. NCPB has 110 operational depots located strategically in all the 47 counties.

The paradigm must shift from practicing agriculture as a way of life to seeing it as a business that is gainful employment. Agricultural technologies, including adoption of better crops varieties, improved management practices, mechanization and better inputs can make this happen. Among the approaches to do this is by involving the youth in new ways of production since the median age of Kenyan farmers is 61, yet the median age of the population is 18.