Irrigation Agriculture in Kenya - Impact of the Economic Stimulus Programme and Long-term Prospects for Food Security in an Era of Climate Change
STUDY
Irrigation Agriculture in Kenya - Impact of the Economic Stimulus Programme and Long-term Prospects for Food Security in an Era of Climate Change
In recent years, Kenya has experienced food shortages arising from declining farm productivity owing to low fertility levels, high input costs and unreliable weather in the face of a rising population. Major among these is the weather unreliability which is experienced as an effect of climate change and the fact that Kenyan agriculture is heavily dependent on rain fed systems. This has resulted in a majority of Kenyans requiring food relief and farm input subsidies, and a rising concern among public and social institutions as public funds otherwise meant for investments programmes are diverted to this cause. This means that variability of performance in food production systems especially with the predicted climatic change will affect the rate investments and therefore slowing down economic development with consequences on employment creation in the country. On the other hand, expanding irrigation has been touted as one of the important strategies out of this situation, because in many locations rain-fed agriculture is no longer able to generate adequate crop yields. Falling food production makes the food security situation in the country precarious and vulnerable. Climatic change has aggravated the food security situation, since rainfall is projected to decrease yet only a small fraction (1.8%), of the crop land is currently under irrigation (Ministry of State for Planning and Vision 2030: Public expenditure review, 2010).
The country has an estimated irrigation potential of 1.3 million hectares, both irrigation and drainage with about 30% of this production development possible with the available water resources while the rest will require water harvesting and storage to be realized. Of the 125,000 hectares currently under irrigation, smallholders represent 43%, public at 18% while the private large scale farms represent 39%. Food production in the country has been declining in the recent past and that of maize (an important component of both urban and rural household’s meals) rock-bottomed in 2008 to about 26 million bags from 36,086,406 million in 2006, some 16 million bags short of the national consumption, estimated to be 42 million bags (MoA, the national study on cost of maize production, 2010). This was occasioned by a number of factors, including declining or no rainfall in most parts of the country, low use of improved farm inputs and the Post Election Violence (PEV) of 2007/08. By 2009, the country faced a looming food crisis of major proportions. Due to the strategic importance of maize as a staple food, the government rolled out a plan to produce maize and rice under irrigation to enhance the national grain strategic reserves under the National Economic Stimulus Project on food production under irrigation.
This undertaking succeeded to put about 40,436 acres of maize (8,686) and rice (31,750) slightly higher than the targeted 35,550 acres of maize (14,600) and rice (20,950) under irrigation. The two crops yielded a total of 782,662 bags made of 147,662 bags of maize and 635,000 bags of rice. This represented 40% and 101% respectively. The value of achieved production was estimated as Ksh 251,025,400 from the maize grain and 1,587,500,000 from rice both estimated at 66% of the targeted revenue of Ksh 2,798,000,000. These achievements were way off the mark especially that of maize which realized only 40% of the target production and 28% of expected revenue.
Rice performance was fairly on target, achieving only 1% above the targeted production and 84% of the anticipated revenue. These shortfalls were attributed to higher projected produce prices than the actual market prices and an over estimation of the yields during the planning exercise. The market prices for maize averaged at Ksh 1,800 per bag of 90Kg against the projected of Ksh 2,500 per bag. Similarly, the yields were estimated at 25 bags per acre against the achieved 17 bags/acre of maize and 30.3 bags/acres of rice. The projected yield for rice was 30 bags/acres estimated to be sold at Ksh 3,000/bag. Under the ESP, the executing agency/implementing organ of the project is the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) through the Irrigation, Drainage and Water Storage Department in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Ministry of Regional Development. At the national level, a Project Steering Committee (PSC) was established to oversee project implementation. The PSC was chaired by the Permanent Secretary, MoA, and not the MoWI and will comprise representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Gender and Sports, Ministry of Regional Development. This is likely to be a cause of conflict where the implementing ministry takes orders from another ministry at the Steering Committee level.
Further, although, the expansion of land under irrigation remains a faster and feasible solution, water availability for irrigation in the country is scarce. Kenya has four main drainage areas namely: Lake Victoria, Kerio Valley and Inland lakes, the Tana and Athi River basin, and the Ewaso Ng’iro North basin whose irrigation infrastructure has not been adequately developed. In addition, out of the internal renewable surface water resources estimated at 20.2 km³/year, only 3.5 km³ is being exploited annually. It is estimated that about 10km3/year of water leaves the country via trans-boundary rivers unutilized.
The water availability in some catchment towers in Kenya is predicted to be severe in future because of the effects of climate change and human activity interference.The melting of glaciers on Mt. Kenya, which in 1900 had 18 glacier peaks and now having only 7 (GOK, National Investment Brief, 2008) is testimony of what the country expects. This explains the decline in water levels in Athi and Tana Rivers and subsequent load shedding programme as the country’s main source of electricity was hydro-based. On the other hand, extreme climatic changes that cause flooding and drought have an immense negative impact on both the social and economic fronts. In the recent past, there has been an increase in frequency, magnitude, extent and severity of disasters that are weather based.
The past government approach to disaster management has been disaster response as opposed to disaster risk reduction. Kenya needs a consistent and reliable supply of water regardless of changes in climate. Inadequate water harvesting and storage and lack of on-farm conservation measures have resulted in parts of the country having a lot of run-off during rainy seasons and little or no water during dry periods. Improved water harvesting and storage infrastructure will therefore be necessary in exploiting the proposed irrigation potential in the country and in providing more water supply to agriculture and energy generation. Improved water harvesting will also provide opportunities for the communities in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALs) to achieve and sustain food security.
Several initiatives are inevitable towards coping with the changing weather patterns. These include: formulation of comprehensive policies to address irrigation and drainage/ water harvesting and national food security. A policy component that addresses production within the ESP will be critical to provide the necessary safety net against losing the investments already in place. In addition, sensitization and training of farmers on climatic changes and their implications on production should be mainstreamed into all production oriented programmes. This would also include innovative schemes for farmers & pastoralists like micro-insurance and financing in this era of severe weather changes and climate change. This will enable them deal with the challenges posed by climate change and reap maximum benefits from the ESP programme. Some of the policy actions needed would include systematic implementation of the National Land Policy, redirecting agricultural research to address the adaptation mechanisms and improvement of public–private partnerships in the public schemes. These in turn would be expected to reflect on putting the land and water resources to compatible use, enhancement of sustainability in farming activities, and compliance to environmental management practices.
The country has an estimated irrigation potential of 1.3 million hectares, both irrigation and drainage with about 30% of this production development possible with the available water resources while the rest will require water harvesting and storage to be realized. Of the 125,000 hectares currently under irrigation, smallholders represent 43%, public at 18% while the private large scale farms represent 39%. Food production in the country has been declining in the recent past and that of maize (an important component of both urban and rural household’s meals) rock-bottomed in 2008 to about 26 million bags from 36,086,406 million in 2006, some 16 million bags short of the national consumption, estimated to be 42 million bags (MoA, the national study on cost of maize production, 2010). This was occasioned by a number of factors, including declining or no rainfall in most parts of the country, low use of improved farm inputs and the Post Election Violence (PEV) of 2007/08. By 2009, the country faced a looming food crisis of major proportions. Due to the strategic importance of maize as a staple food, the government rolled out a plan to produce maize and rice under irrigation to enhance the national grain strategic reserves under the National Economic Stimulus Project on food production under irrigation.
This undertaking succeeded to put about 40,436 acres of maize (8,686) and rice (31,750) slightly higher than the targeted 35,550 acres of maize (14,600) and rice (20,950) under irrigation. The two crops yielded a total of 782,662 bags made of 147,662 bags of maize and 635,000 bags of rice. This represented 40% and 101% respectively. The value of achieved production was estimated as Ksh 251,025,400 from the maize grain and 1,587,500,000 from rice both estimated at 66% of the targeted revenue of Ksh 2,798,000,000. These achievements were way off the mark especially that of maize which realized only 40% of the target production and 28% of expected revenue.
Rice performance was fairly on target, achieving only 1% above the targeted production and 84% of the anticipated revenue. These shortfalls were attributed to higher projected produce prices than the actual market prices and an over estimation of the yields during the planning exercise. The market prices for maize averaged at Ksh 1,800 per bag of 90Kg against the projected of Ksh 2,500 per bag. Similarly, the yields were estimated at 25 bags per acre against the achieved 17 bags/acre of maize and 30.3 bags/acres of rice. The projected yield for rice was 30 bags/acres estimated to be sold at Ksh 3,000/bag. Under the ESP, the executing agency/implementing organ of the project is the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) through the Irrigation, Drainage and Water Storage Department in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Ministry of Regional Development. At the national level, a Project Steering Committee (PSC) was established to oversee project implementation. The PSC was chaired by the Permanent Secretary, MoA, and not the MoWI and will comprise representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Gender and Sports, Ministry of Regional Development. This is likely to be a cause of conflict where the implementing ministry takes orders from another ministry at the Steering Committee level.
Further, although, the expansion of land under irrigation remains a faster and feasible solution, water availability for irrigation in the country is scarce. Kenya has four main drainage areas namely: Lake Victoria, Kerio Valley and Inland lakes, the Tana and Athi River basin, and the Ewaso Ng’iro North basin whose irrigation infrastructure has not been adequately developed. In addition, out of the internal renewable surface water resources estimated at 20.2 km³/year, only 3.5 km³ is being exploited annually. It is estimated that about 10km3/year of water leaves the country via trans-boundary rivers unutilized.
The water availability in some catchment towers in Kenya is predicted to be severe in future because of the effects of climate change and human activity interference.The melting of glaciers on Mt. Kenya, which in 1900 had 18 glacier peaks and now having only 7 (GOK, National Investment Brief, 2008) is testimony of what the country expects. This explains the decline in water levels in Athi and Tana Rivers and subsequent load shedding programme as the country’s main source of electricity was hydro-based. On the other hand, extreme climatic changes that cause flooding and drought have an immense negative impact on both the social and economic fronts. In the recent past, there has been an increase in frequency, magnitude, extent and severity of disasters that are weather based.
The past government approach to disaster management has been disaster response as opposed to disaster risk reduction. Kenya needs a consistent and reliable supply of water regardless of changes in climate. Inadequate water harvesting and storage and lack of on-farm conservation measures have resulted in parts of the country having a lot of run-off during rainy seasons and little or no water during dry periods. Improved water harvesting and storage infrastructure will therefore be necessary in exploiting the proposed irrigation potential in the country and in providing more water supply to agriculture and energy generation. Improved water harvesting will also provide opportunities for the communities in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALs) to achieve and sustain food security.
Several initiatives are inevitable towards coping with the changing weather patterns. These include: formulation of comprehensive policies to address irrigation and drainage/ water harvesting and national food security. A policy component that addresses production within the ESP will be critical to provide the necessary safety net against losing the investments already in place. In addition, sensitization and training of farmers on climatic changes and their implications on production should be mainstreamed into all production oriented programmes. This would also include innovative schemes for farmers & pastoralists like micro-insurance and financing in this era of severe weather changes and climate change. This will enable them deal with the challenges posed by climate change and reap maximum benefits from the ESP programme. Some of the policy actions needed would include systematic implementation of the National Land Policy, redirecting agricultural research to address the adaptation mechanisms and improvement of public–private partnerships in the public schemes. These in turn would be expected to reflect on putting the land and water resources to compatible use, enhancement of sustainability in farming activities, and compliance to environmental management practices.
Product details
Date of Publication
2011
Publisher
Heinrich Böll Stiftung, East and Horn of Africa
Number of Pages
62
Licence
Language of publication
English
ISBN / DOI
9966 7172 8-5