The National Irrigation Authority targets increasing the net area under irrigation within five years.

Irrigation PS Ephantus Kimotho said there are plans to increase acreage under irrigation from the current 711,993 acres to 1.2 million acres by 2027

All this is aimed at increasing the production of various crops such as rice, maize, horticulture, and fodder.

“For us to be able to increase the area under irrigation, we also require to increase our storage. So we also have a plan to increase the water storage from the current 55 million cubic metres to 340 million cubic litres by 2027. We will do this through some of the dams that we are constructing,” Irrigation PS Ephantus Kimotho said.

PS Ephantus Kimotho spoke during the launch of the NIA Strategic Plan for 2023-2027. Currently, due to its high consumption of water, it is utilizing throttle Thiba Dam only for irrigation.

The State Department of Irrigation has singled out key dams including Galana Dam, Tana River/Kilifi counties; High Grand Falls, Tharaka Nithi/Kitui; Boston Dam, Bomet County; Isiolo Dam, Radat Dam near Pekera, Baringo County, and Lowaat Dam in Turkana County, among others.

The PS said construction of the Galana Dam is on course and groundbreaking is set for October.

The dam is to provide more than 300 million cubic meters and help irrigate up to 200,000 acres. This will also be helpful in manufacturing, especially towards the making of raw materials for industrialization.

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The Chief Executive Officer of NIA, Charles Muasya, outlined a plan to increase the capacity of water harvesting stored for irrigation.

“Another target is to increase irrigated rice and maize production from 192,299 tonnes of rice and 195,521 kilograms (90 kgs) of maize in 2023-2024 to 700,000 metric tonnes of rice and 300 million bags of maize,” Charles Muasya said.

The national deficit for rice stands at 700,000 tonnes, which they are eyeing to close within the next five years.

Muasya noted that attaining these objectives will call for increased involvement in rice development activities aimed at maximizing operational research adoption, irrigation technologies and rice production.

The government is keen to ensure that state agencies continue to remain operationally viable.