Rice farmers in Kirinyaga county hope to start the annual two cropping season as Thiba dam inches to completion.
According to project manager Stephen Mutinda, the facility is in its last phase of construction having achieved 91 per cent completion.
He said that once complete in the next few weeks, the Sh8.5 billion facility is set to be flooded with water in the upcoming long rains.
Mutinda says delays in completion are occasioned by late arrival of the gate valve being imported from Germany.
“We had a logistical problem in importing and clearing the equipment from the port. Luckily, the issue has been sorted and the valve will reach us in the next two weeks then the dam will commence its function..”
Speaking at the site on Tuesday Mutinda, said the dam would currently be undergoing the flooding process from River Thiba.
However, he stated water levels at the river are extremely low and if harvested would negatively affect rice farmers preparing their farms so they have fixed on the March-April long rains .
The reservoir will be tapping and storing an annual capacity of 15 million cubic metres from a yearly 185 million cubic meters of water that flows in River Thiba.
According to Mutinda this will solve the perennial water shortage and enable farmers to improve their livelihoods.
“This will not only help them farm rice throughout the year, but will as well enable the country to achieve food security as rice production will shoot.”
Currently the 25,000 acre under rice cultivation has only one cropping season,but with a functioning dam,it will help service an extra 10,000 acre set to be under cultivation enabling two cropping seasons per year.
Rice production in the scheme will also improve by more than two fold from the current annual production of 120,000 to 250,000 metric tons.
The dam will also help horticultural farmers.
