Proposed privatisation of the Galana-Kulalu Food Security Project is a government ploy to grab the land, Kilifi North MP Owen Baya has said.
The government on Wednesday last week announced it will give 20,000 acres of the Galana-Kulalu project to private firms to increase
maize cultivation.
Water CS Eugene Wamalwa said the private firms and the Agricultural Development Corporation would plant the crop in March.
Baya raised concerns on Tuesday about the plan, saying the ADC cannot be trusted with the land. Speaking when he met farmers at the Matsangoni chief’s office, the legislator said he would do everything possible to stop the proposed privatisation.
He wants the land given to the communities in Tana River and Kilifi counties. “As MPs from this region, we will take up this matter with the National Assembly Committee on Agriculture. If this fails to bear fruit, we will move to court. If the court fails to stop the proposed privatisation, then we will come to the people’s court. We will mobilise our people to defend that land from grabbers,” Baya said.
Baya said the ADC subdivided and allocated the 5,000 acres at the Malindi ADC Kisiwani Farm. The initial plan was to raise cattle there but the plan changed. “The ADC gave the land to private developers and now several high-end buildings have been put up on the land,” Baya said.
He advised CS Wamalwa to rethink his stand. “Wamalwa is going home [possibly from the Cabinet] because the President has shown indications that he will not retain him. Let him not leave a trail of confusion that will not be easy to handle,” he said
Sh40 billion invested
At the weekend, 10 MPs from the Coast said they will block plans to privatise the 1.7 million-acre project.
Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi also wants the project handed over to the county governments since agriculture is a devolved function. “We have the capacity to produce maize in that project if the national government gives us the chance. The money pumped in there does not translate into the maize produced there. More than Sh40 billion has been sunk there but Kenya is still food insecure,” he said.
According to the government’s plan 500,000 acres is to be put under maize production, 150,000 acres will be for beef and game animals, 50,000 acres for dairy farming, 200,000 acres for sugarcane farming, 50,000 acres for horticulture and the remaining 50,000 acres for fruit.
The Galana project was supposed to put one million acres under irrigation by 2017. Only, 5,500 acres of the model farm have been completed and are ready for leasing to the private sector.