By Anderson Ojwang
The Lower Kuja irrigation Scheme could be a key to an economic milestone for Migori county once the two phases of the project are completed.
The project is envisaged to inject Sh 6 billion into local economy and could trigger a new economic dispensation in the poverty ravaged county.
In a recent report, Migori County Covid-19 Social Economic Re-Engineering Recovery strategy of 20202/21-2022/23 puts the county poverty index at 41.8 percent.
Similarly, the report says Migori County Gross County Product (GCP) accounted for 1.3 per cent of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at 2017.
The GCP increased from Ksh. 52,910 Million in 2013 to Sh. 96,337 Million in 2017 representing an average growth rate of 16.4 per cent per year.
The service sector contributes 46.0 per cent of GCP while agriculture, manufacturing and other industries sector share constituted 42.4 per cent, 2.81 per cent and 8.0 per cent, respectively.
The services sector includes such activities as wholesale and retail trade. Agriculture is mainly dominated by crop farming and fishing activities while industries and manufacturing include small scale production of consumer goods such as plastics, furniture and textiles.
But the agricultural sector has also witnessed the collapse of tobacco framing while Sony Sugar Company is tethering towards its death bed leaving sugar farmers in huge debts.
The Lower Kuja Irrigation scheme in Nyatike constituency will both directly and indirectly benefit 197,000 persons upon completion of the project.
It is anticipated that the project will create job opportunities to more than 250,000 Kenyans, which will go a long way in addressing the soaring unemployment in the country.
President William Ruto during a recent visit to Migori County, visited the facility and expressed commitment to completion of the project.
Currently, the scheme host 5,000 farmers who have been linked with the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) for subsidized fertilizer.
The project area covers six locations and 13 sub-locations in Nyatike and Karungu divisions.
Various feasibility studies in the 1980s by the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) revealed the potential for irrigation within the Nyatike area with the use of water for irrigation from the two rivers of Kuja and Migori.
“ The project can improve the rice production in the country, create a sustainable supply of raw materials like straw, oil and hull for Agro-based industries as well as contribute to the foreign exchange,” says Eng Gilbert Maluku, chair, National Irrigation Authority (NIA).
The project cost for the two phases is estimated at Sh. 2.6 Billion with an 7, 000 acres of rice will be cultivated in phase I and an additional 12,000 acres in phase II accounting for 19,000 acres of land for irrigation.
Currently, the scheme only has 6,000 acres under rice farming, which is partly active
Equally, the project will have 47 Kilometers of a drainage system, 212 kilometers of on-farm drainage and an extension of the 2.06-kilometre canal network.
The project has also seen the establishment of a private miller around the Irrigation Scheme that will not only increase rice production but also wealth creation and job opportunities in the county.
The rice scheme is in line with Vision 2030 and the Big Four agenda of; food and nutritional security to ensure; food security at the local level that will contribute towards the same at the national level.⁹
Despite the economic potential, the project has witnessed obstacles that has undermined its actualization.
The thorny and emotive land compensation and court injunctions have nearly derailed the project.
Over 40 court cases have been filed against the National Irrigation Authority over the compensation claims temporarily and occasionally stalling the project.
But Maluki recently said already 68 Million had been allocated to compensate residents who gave their land for the construction of the scheme.
Already a team of officers from the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) have pitched a camp at the Lower Kuja irrigation scheme to verify individuals who are supposed to be compensated.
However, an additional 98 million is required to fully cater for the compensation package which stands at 166 million.
The County Government in a bid to boost rice farming has distributed 1000kgs of high yielding certified rice seeds to 100 farmers in Lower Kuja Irrigation scheme for this season.
“ By providing certified rice seeds, my government is equipping farmers with the necessary resources to increase productivity and improve quality of the yields,” says Governor Dr Ochilo Mbogo Ayacko.
A health economist and a farmer from Nyatike constituency Mr. Wicklife Ongara.says the project has a potential of turning around the economy of Migori.
“With the death of tobacco and limping sugar sector, rice farming remains the only viable economic path for the county to reverse the endemic poverty,” he says.
