Kingi says Galana Kulalu revival could end food shortages at the Coast

Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has said the revival of the Galana Kulalu Food Security Project and other irrigation schemes could help end food shortages in Kilifi and Tana River counties.

Kingi spoke in Tulu, Garsen, where he joined Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana and Garsen MP Ali Wario in assessing the impact of floods in Tana Delta Sub-County and distributing relief food to affected residents.

He said the national government had renewed investment in irrigation projects, including Galana Kulalu, Bura and Hola irrigation schemes, as well as the Tana Delta rice scheme, with the aim of increasing food production for local consumption and export.

Kingi said the projects could reduce the region’s dependence on food assistance, which he attributed to years of marginalisation by successive governments.

“As Hon Mungatana has talked about food for our region, and today we have brought relief food here in Tana River, but according to the irrigation plans of President William Ruto, Tana River and Kilifi will be producing enough food for local use and export,” he said.

He cited developments at Galana Kulalu as evidence of progress in the government’s food production agenda, urging residents across the Coast to support efforts to realise the region’s agricultural potential.

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Tana River Senator Mungatana said the government had also attracted investors to undertake commercial sugar farming in Bura under irrigation, creating employment opportunities for local women and young people.

The remarks came days after Head of Public Service Felix Koskei led 38 Principal Secretaries on a tour of the Galana Kulalu project to assess progress in irrigation development.

Koskei said Kenya spends more than Sh560 billion annually on food imports, arguing that increased investment in irrigation would help reduce the import bill.

“We want to utilise the 70 per cent of Kenya which is arid and semi-arid, and the soils are good. The only challenge is water, and we are harvesting water so that we can irrigate that land and produce enough food for human beings and animals,” he said.

Irrigation Principal Secretary Ephantus Kimotho said the government was planning additional dams upstream of Galana Kulalu to provide water for expanding irrigation.

He said the proposed infrastructure would support irrigation across more than 300,000 acres, forming part of a wider ambition to bring one million acres under irrigation in the area.

“We will be doing a dam which will be breaking ground in the next month that will have a water holding capacity of 350 million cubic metres, and it will enable us to expand this area to the tune of 200,000 acres under irrigation,” Kimotho said.

He added that the project had attracted private investors through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme.

Among them were Selo Limited, which he said was cultivating seed maize on 2,000 acres, and Pwani Farm Ranch, which was growing edible oil crops on a similar acreage.

The government says the expansion of irrigation is intended to strengthen food security, increase agricultural production and unlock the economic potential of arid and semi-arid areas.

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