- The authority's managing director says the expansion was necessitated by the increased demand for irrigated agriculture in the region.
- During a tour of the irrigation project, the authority distributed 8,000 high-yielding banana suckers to farmers in the region.
The Coast Development Authority has started an ambitious project to expand the multi-million shilling Chakama Irrigation Scheme in Malindi subcounty to enhance food security.
The project will cost of Sh33 million.
The expansion is part of 220-acre Chakama project initiated by the authority in 2019 with the aim of changing from rain-fed farming, which was no longer viable in the arid area to irrigation.
Chakama is an area prone to famine and most people are used to relying on relief food, but since the project started, there has been a great transformation.
The authority's managing director Mohamed Keinan said the expansion was necessitated by the increased demand for irrigated agriculture in the region.
“We have developed demonstration plots in each scheme to teach farmers how to engage in agribusiness and farming-related commercial activities,” he said.
Speaking during a tour of the irrigation schemes with the authority's board of directors, Keinan said Chakama uses solar power, and was initiated to boost food production and uplift the living standards of the residents living in the arid area.
He said smallholder farmers across the coastal region have been facing challenges of food insecurity due to climate-induced droughts and a lack of effective use of irrigation schemes.
He further said one of the authority’s topmost goals is to provide food and nutrition security to the residents of the region.
The managing director said the lack of irrigated agriculture normally puts the lives of hundreds of smallholder farmers at risk due to climate variability.
Keinana said similar small-holder irrigation projects are being implemented in Kwale, Taita Taveta and Tana River counties.
He said their aim is to reduce poverty by scaling up irrigation projects, which are important to boosting crops, addressing the effects of climate change and sustaining livelihoods.
“Irrigation is increasingly seen as a necessary means to build resilience in smallholder farming and to increase productivity around the year to meet increasing food demands,” Keinan said.
He said the Sh33 million was used to construct the new irrigation schemes, build the farm infrastructure, provide the necessary pumping sets and cultivate the lands.
During the tour, the authority distributed 8,000 high-yielding banana suckers to farmers in the region.
Keinan said the farmers were trained on better and modern farming methods and production techniques to scale up food production and environmental conservation.
Chakama smallholder irrigation scheme project manager Ibrahim Munga said they managed to rehabilitate the dilapidated irrigation infrastructure in the scheme.
He said they set up eight canals for water in the five blocks, each spaced 250 metres apart on the 220 acres land.
“When the additional schemes are completed, the project will be able to sustain itself as the residents are well empowered and have embraced it,” he said.
Munga said they are working in partnership with the community and have trained them on modern irrigation farming which they are keen on.
By using the health suckers, he said smallholder farmers in the region can double the size of their banana bunches from 40 to 100kg.
“Different irrigation technologies such as sprinkle, basin, drip and furrow will be used to grow crops such as tissue culture bananas, onions, and vegetables,” he said.
Chakama farmers association chairman Solomon Bashiri said the smallholder farmers have hopes with the irrigation schemes, adding that many residents are making big business out of the banana trade since the high variety is grown in the area weighs between 50 and 100kg.
“The irrigation schemes that grow crops such as maize, bananas, peppers, okra, onions, watermelon, tomatoes and vegetables offer a lifeline to hundreds of villagers,” he said.
Eunice Kasena, a farmer from the area, said the project has increased yields and improved the lives of the farmers and their families.
(edited by Amol Awuor)