Here’s our path to wealth and food

KVDA recently launched its strategic master plan. What are its highlights and how will it translate to money in the farmer’s pockets?

We have mapped out all resources available within the Kerio Valley region, which if properly harnessed, can transform the residents’ living standards. They include various sources of energy, minerals, water, forestry, farming and the beautiful landscape that can drive the tourism sector.

The next step will be to carry out a feasibility study that will inform development on the identified projects. Farmers stand to benefit from clean and cheap energy. They will make more money from the agricultural and tourism investments. Through irrigation projects, the dry spell will no longer be a challenge.

Your authority is arguably the most active regional state corporation in Kenya, turning hectares of dry lands into breadbaskets. What is the KVDA secret?

We focus on farmers’ priorities and assist them make right decisions. We empower farmers to think outside the box as opposed to looking for excuses to justify why things are not working. We have a lot of water going to waste and a lot of land that has not been utilised to improve food security.

KVDA promotes honey production in the Kerio Valley. Any plans to have modern production techniques to boost the incomes of the women of Radat and others who depend on honey for livelihood?

We are buying honey production plants and modern beehives and other accessories that would make honey harvesting and processing cost-effective. We have to increase honey production in the region from the current 400-500 tonnes to about 1,000 tonnes in the next three years.

We are encouraging farmers to form cooperatives to enable them bargain for better prices and quickly benefit from our services. Out of a target of 5,000 beehives this year, we have so far produced 2,000 for farmers’ use. Our ultimate goal is to produce 10,000 beehives per year.

What of the planned fruit processing plant at Tot as well as sugarcane project on the West Pokot/ Turkana border?

We shall put up a mango processing plant in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The area has more than 60,000 mature mango trees. The sugarcane project at Turkwell on the West Pokot/Turkana border is meant to empower residents by encouraging them to think beyond livestock production.

The region has enormous potential for high sucrose content sugarcane that matures within nine months. In Nyanza and Western, it takes between 18 and 22 months for sugarcane to be ready for harvest. The cost of production will thus fall to about Sh12,000 per tonne compared with between Sh55,000 and 65,000 incurred in the sugar belt zones.

There has been a decline in the land under cultivation by the Wei Wei co-operative society in West Pokot County. What plans does the authority have in empowering members of the scheme to scale up their crop production?

We are training farmers to use proper farming practices to better their yields. We have installed a maize processing plant in the county that will cut transport costs by a half. Farmers supplying maize seeds to the Kenya Seed Company (KSC) in the neighbouring Trans Nzoia County will now be able to transport shelled maize. We have also increased land available for agriculture in Wei Wei by 325 hectares to cater for the growing demand by farmers.

Questions regarding the stalling of such promising projects like Tot and Arror irrigation schemes because of alleged embezzlement of funds have also refused to go away. What have you done to address these questions?

It’s all about lazy contractors. Contractors who don’t adhere to stipulated terms for the contracts. But we terminated the contracts. We have taken over the projects and we shall launch completed ones by the end of this month. No money was lost as we paid only for work done.

What plans does the authority have for the conservation of River Suam which drains its water to Turkwell seeing as the dam has never filled up since its construction because of siltation?

We have been undertaking conservation upstream. This year, we have planted two million trees up from 1.5 we planted last year. We are fencing the area to protect it from unauthorised access.

Besides increasing the area’s vegetative cover, we are encouraging communities that neighbour the river to dig terraces to slow water runoff. We are promoting sisal growing to keep the soil intact and stop the run off. This year, KVDA shall construct small dams on all rivers feeding into Turkwell.

Incessant insecurity characterised by cattle raids has often slowed down the implementation of KVDA projects. What is the authority doing about it?

Insecurity is a real challenge affecting our programmes. Fortunately, the national government is handling this vice as we also engage the county governments to complement the efforts. We are reaching out to governors, senators, MPs and MCAs to preach peace to avoid conflicts.

We are scaling up development activities to foster peace as people will be busy making money instead of planning evil. We are helping the communities set up conservancies among other economic projects.

KVDA presides over a huge swathe of land with mineral deposits such as limestone, oil and gold. What are the authority’s plans for the mineral sector?

In our master plan, we have mapped out areas with the minerals. We are in the process of recruiting experts and coming up with feasibility studies to check on viability and commerciality of the resources. KVDA plays a more integrated role in terms of exploitation of these resources. We are supporting the government initiative to lure more investors to inject money into these resources.

Israel is 26 times smaller than Kenya and is virtually a desert yet it is one of the leading exporters of horticultural products. What do we need to do to feed ourselves?

Adapt modern farming techniques to improve on yields. Go for green houses. We have set the pace and established small green houses in Eldoret where tomatoes are doing well. We started with five of them each with 2,000 tomato trees.

The tomatoes have a ready market and fetch good prices as a farmer can realise up to Sh1.2 million per season from one green house. Tap into opportunities in the market and cultivate crops that are in demand.

We have mainly been exporting flowers but, there is a lot of potential in other horticultural crops like onions that enjoy a ready market locally and overseas.

Harvesting rain water can boost agricultural production many times over. Why hasn’t KVDA gone big on water pans?

KVDA is the proud owner of the biggest dam in the country- the Turkwell. The dam has 1.6 billion cubic metres of water. We also have Kimao Dam with a million cubic metres of water. We are constructing dams at Arror, Embobut, Kimwarer and Muruny.

This and the next financial year, we shall construct about 100 water pans and 40 small dams spread over our area of jurisdiction which covers Turkana, Baringo, Samburu, Elgeyo –Marakwet, West Pokot and parts of Nakuru. The water pans will be between 10,000 and 50,000 cubic metres, whereas the dams will be between 100,000 and 400,000 cubic metres.

Thereafter, we shall move to medium and large dams. This will ensure no water is wasted. Communities will have sufficient water to undertake large irrigation projects in the Kerio Valley.