Drought exposes collapse of Galana Kulalu project

The Israeli Embassy and project contractor Green Arava have blamed cartels for the collapse of the Sh7.3 billion Galana Kulalu irrigation scheme.

The National Irrigation Board, however, denies the allegations and accuses the contractor of not giving value for money.

This comes at a time when parts of the country are facing drought, with deaths being reported. The government denies they are linked to drought.

The ambitious food security project hosted by Kilifi and Tana River counties was to be a model farm to ensure high yields in maize-producing areas.

With food security being one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda, it aimed to move the country from relying on rain-fed agriculture.

However, the project collapsed after what senior officials of Green Arava and embassy diplomats say was frustration by “people with vested interests, who have fought the project from day one”.

The Israeli company had in various documents accused NIB of failing to honour payments and stopped work until they got their money.

On the other hand, NIB accused the Israeli company of ignoring correspondence, demobilising from the site contrary to contractual obligations, and threatening to withdraw from the contract.

Israeli Ambassador Noah Gal Gendler told the Star in an interview that some maize importers and millers are behind the collapse of the project.

“I speak to you not just as the ambassador of Israel to Kenya, but also as a former food and water envoy for my country. This project was a success from a professional point of view. All the conditions for its takeoff were perfect,” he said.

“However, since the success of this project was to cut the price of flour by almost half, some of these people who import maize into this country and the millers feared losing business. So what do you expect?” Gendler said.

The Israeli envoy further accused the cartels, which he did not name, of being responsible for the distortion of information and misreporting. For one, he said, this was a pilot project because you cannot put one million acres, as widely reported.

The model farm was to cover 10,000 acres, while the National Irrigation Board reportedly leased 20,000 acres.

The company says the contract covered 0.01 per cent of the entire project.

In their explanation, Green Arava said it was to test various varieties of seeds under certain conditions to maximise production per acre.

“The best-yielding variety in the first year was 17 bags per acre. The second season produced 30-40 bags per acre among the leading varieties," it said.

VIABILITY OVER PRODUCTION?

Speaking to KTN News on March 17, Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, who signed the Galana Kulalu project as Water minister, corroborated this.

“As a farmer who has grown and farmed there, the best you can get is 20 bags per acre," he said.

"The success story today is that Galana is viable. It was not about production. The proof of concept was achieved. Now we are at the stage of NIB handing over to the ADC [Agricultural Development Corporation], which has the title [deed] for the million acres for investors to come and do the production.

"When I took over in 2015, the overall progress was 30 per cent, and we were able to push it to 85 per cent.”

However, Green Arava said cartels are influencing the politics of maize. The delays, they say, were designed to discourage and frustrate the company’s efforts.

“From fake news that Galana Kulalu would destroy the livelihoods of farmers in the North Rift, to claims the project was overpriced and a white elephant, we have borne the brunt of ruthless cartels keen on sustaining their businesses in maize milling and maize production at whatever cost,” Green Arava said in a statement on February 27.

A top manager, who did not want to be named said, “The successful implementation of this model farm was meant to encourage private investors to take up the farming. We did not want to remain here. That is why in the agreement, Kenyan students were to go to Israel for training to take over the project. To date, the over 200 students have not been absorbed into the project.” 

Another source accused the NIB of frustrating the project.

“We have had cumulated delays of up to 354 days caused by the NIB. They started by delaying in clearing the bush. They have also not paid an additional amount for extra work Green Arava did,” he said.

Green Arava also accuses NIB of suspending half the contract midway through implementation, which cut out the milling component, “rendering the project a stillbirth”.

“I should mention this. Green Arava has not failed in any of the projects it has undertaken across the world. On the other hand, NIB has not succeeded in its projects. It is out there. You can thus tell where the blame is,” the Green Arava manager said.

Ambassador Gendler echoed this, saying, “You can check in countries we have been. Nicaragua, Jamaica, Honduras, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Angola, which are among the 140 states we have worked in.”

But while Green Arava says it has not left the side, the ambassador says he has since written to the concerned ministries, asking them to take charge of the project to prevent vandalism, since Green Arava personnel have left.

On February 12, NIB chief executive Gitonga Mugambi wrote to Irrigation PS Fred Sigor, seeking to disengage from the contract between the government and Green Arava.

UHURU’S FALTERING PLAN

In Jubilee’s 2017 Manifesto, President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to “expand food and agricultural production, double the fertiliser subsidy initiative, reduce the cost to farmers to less than Sh1,500, expand the programme to include all crops with a resultant increase in production, and support the expansion and capacity of local fertiliser manufacture.”

Jubilee further committed to “complete the 57 large-scale dam construction programme, support smallholder agricultural drip irrigation, and work with the private sector to enhance commercial agricultural production on at least 1.2 million acres”.

In this regard, Food Security was among the four agendas the President prioritised in his second term.

But despite promises that no Kenyan will die due to lack of food, thousands are starving in various counties in the North. Some have been reported dead.

Ambassador Gendler says for Kenya to be secure, agencies mandated with agriculture must walk the talk.

“This is a very blessed country and all that is needed to be done to get rid of these cartels is commercialise agriculture and ensure better water usage,” he said.

NIB BLAMES 'POLITICS'

Engineer Charles Muasya from the National Irrigation Board said the claims of not keeping their part of the bargain are neither here nor there.

He said bush clearing was at the very first onset of the contract, and the contract period was extended accordingly, awaiting bush clearing, and this could only have affected cropping and not the intake.

The head of design and planning of irrigation projects at the NIB said Deputy President William Ruto, while in Israel, asked the contractors why they were not planting, and they said NIB was yet to clear the bushes.

“We went ahead and cleared the whole 10,000 acres but they have only cropped 3,000 acres. But the whole of the 10,000 is cleared,” he said.

He accused the Green Arava contractors of bringing politics into the Galala Kulalu issue.

“Politics or no politics, these guys have work to deliver,” Muasya said.

The engineer also disputed the issue of cartels frustrating the project.

He said NIB does not owe Green Arava any money.

“The contractor acquired money as advanced payment and has not utilised that money, and under the status quo, this will not be utilised. We need value for the money they have paid. He is supposed to refund the money he has not worked for because he was paid in advance. We are recovering what we paid in advance,” Muasya said.

He said the issue of handing over — whether it is to the ADC or the National Youth Service or any other entity — has not been resolved.

“But the land cannot stay idle and NIB will continue undertaking production in the areas that have been finished,” Muasya said.  

So far, the infrastructure for 3,300 acres is complete and is currently being ploughed, he said.

He added that the contractor is trying to play politics with the project, while they are trying to look for a way forward.

Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri and NIB officials will meet on Wednesday to address the Galana Kulalu issue and look for a solution.