Rice farmers in Kirinyaga County have a reason to smile as Thiba Dam is set to start releasing water for irrigation.
President William Ruto is scheduled to officially commission the newly constructed Thiba Dam for the benefit of farmers.
Last month, the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) reported that the Sh7.8 billion Thiba Dam in Gichugu Constituency had been filled to full capacity.
The new dam is expected to give the 30,060-acre Mwea irrigation scheme a lifeline and an additional 10,000 acres be flooded for rice farming.
The 40m tall and 1 km long dam will help secure a full year-round water supply for the country’s agriculture department with rice farmers set to be the biggest beneficiaries.
Ruto will be accompanied by his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and a host of other leaders.
Since last month, NIA has been undertaking test runs on the release of the water from the dam after it got filled up.
The impounding exercise of the dam began late in May until late August this year when the dam got filled with the targeted capacity of 15.6 million cubic meters of water.
NIA Mwea Irrigation Scheme Manager Innocent Ariemba says an increased supply of water will also enable farmers to adopt double cropping practice which means at least 40,060 acres will be under irrigation per season. This will translate to a total of 80,120 acres of rice annually.
He said the current annual rice production at the Mwea irrigation scheme stands at 114,000 metric tonnes per year.
“The current production will rise to about 180,000 metric tonnes of rice annually,” Ariemba said.
On the other hand, Governor Waiguru says the release of water will more than double the current rice production capacity.
This will increase the current Sh9 billion annual earnings from the rice economy to between Sh14 billion to Sh16 billion annually.
“The increased supply of water is the news that every rice farmer in Mwea has been waiting for. We want to express our gratitude to the President for the effort to ensure water from the dam is finally flowing to the farms,” Waiguru added.
An adequate supply of water will result in increased production and employment.
Not only will the dam benefit rice farmers but also some 900 locals neighbouring the reservoir.
The water is supporting the Rukenya and Kibithe irrigation schemes to undertake horticulture irrigation.
