President Uhuru Kenyatta’s commissioning of the Galana-Kulalu Food Security Programme model farm in Tana River and Kilifi counties yesterday marks an important milestone in the country’s march towards Vision 2030.
The 10,000-acre farm is part of the Government’s project aimed at putting more than one million acres under irrigation over the next five years. The entire project is estimated to cost Sh250 billion.
Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Cabinet Secretary Felix Kosgei said the first maize crop will be planted on the farm in March. But of even greater importance, the farm will be a game-changer in the country’s agricultural practices as it is expected to produce between 80 and 100 bags of maize per acre per year. Currently, a farmer in the North Rift, where there is only one season a year, is lucky to get 20 bags per acre.
Since the research findings suggest that the soils are fertile, growing maize means that the production costs are likely to plummet to levels that would make it possible to cut the price of maize flour by up to 50 per cent.
Were the prices of other food crops grown in this mammoth project and other irrigated areas to follow this trend, then the country may very well be able to put the days of high food prices behind it. This would translate into higher standards of life for a great number of people.
That these might not be idle speculations is borne out by the Government’s directive that they would lease the irrigated land only to investors with the capacity and willingness to set up factories that would process the produce in the area.
This would not only create plenty of good jobs locally, but would also drastically reduce the transportation costs incurred when produce is moved from the farm to the National Cereals Produce Board (NCPB) warehouses and to factories located in major urban areas.