- With the completion, some 10,000 more acres will be put under irrigation in Mwea.
- Currently, the scheme has 25,000 acres under rice cultivation but upon expansion will now add up to 35,000 acres.
Image: ELIUD KIBII
Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga will start filling in the next two weeks at the start of the rainy season in March.
With the completion, some 10,000 more acres will be put under irrigation in Mwea.
Currently, the scheme has 25,000 acres under rice cultivation, but upon expansion will now add up to 35,000 acres.
National Irrigation Authority project engineer Stephen Mutinda told a Japanese delegation from the embassy and Japan International Cooperation Agency that the project is 94 per cent complete and only hydromechanical and other auxiliary aspects are remaining.
It will take a rain season to fill and the gross storage capacity of the reservoir will be 15.6 million cubic metre.
The Sh19 billion dam will feed canal three of the Mwea Irrigation, which is also being constructed through a loan by the Japanese government.
“The dam will help stabilise the fluctuation of the water and farmers will be able to get water on time. The project has also created 700 jobs directly. There are three more irrigation schemes as part of the project and two are complete,” Mutinda said.
Mutinda spoke at Mwea Irrigation Agricultural Development Centre, where he received Japan Embassy deputy chief of mission Kitagawa Yasuhisa and Jica senior representative Hayashi Kenji for a tour of the projects.
The government of Japan has been implementing various projects in Mwea, including MIAD, the new dam, the Rice-based and Market-oriented Agriculture Promotion Project and the rehabilitation of canals.
The Capacity Development Project for Enhancement of Rice Production in Irrigation Schemes project manager Wilson Oyange said the initiative seeks to double rice production in Mwea through optimum cropping system, training of farmers and optimisation of water use.
Thiba dam will address inadequate irrigation water for paddy rice production due to climate change and the ever-expanding paddy rice production.
Oyange said demand for rice in Kenya is more than 600,000 metric tonnes and has been increasing by 12 per centre as of 2019.
Kenya only produces 150,000 metric tonnes, meaning nearly 90 per cent of rice is imported.
He attributed the rise in demand to changing eating habits by the young and urban population.
The demand, Onyange said, necessitated the development of the National Rice Development Strategy, a 10-year initiative to double rice production in Kenya. It is currently under review for another 10 years.
Image: ELIUD KIBII
Kitagawa said Japan is committed to supporting the food security pillar of Kenya's Big Four agenda.
He said with food security, the country will be socially and politically stable, especially at a time the region is reeling from instability.
He was impressed by the progress of the dam and the various supporting infrastructures, saying the new envoy, Ambassador Okaniwa Ken, would attend the commissioning ceremony of the dam.
Farmers said they look forward to the dam as it would transform rice irrigation.
Moses Kareithi, who farms Koshihikari rice, said the dam would relieve the Nyamindi River, which feeds Thiba River to irrigate the two larger Mwea irrigation sections.
Kareithi said farmers hope there will be no further delays so that they can start two cropping season.
The project was earlier delayed by cash crisis and Covid-19 due to delays in shipment of some equipment.
KiliMOL, a Japanese company, also had an experimental demonstration of a refurbished machine that helps with planting and and another rice polishing farming equipment.
Through the automation process, KiliMOL CEO Mikio Oyama said agricultural output can increase multiple times, as it is way faster and easier as compared to doing it by hand.
This story has been updated to correct the month of filling from May to March