State lines up KSh600bn irrigation plan as Nandi dam repairs target 2,380 acres

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The government plans to bring 1.5 million acres of land under irrigation through a KSh600 billion programme in which the private sector is expected to put up most of the money, Irrigation Principal Secretary Ephantus Kimotho has said.

Speaking during public participation forums on irrigation projects in Nandi County, Mr Kimotho said 40 per cent of the plan would be carried out by the national government and development partners, and 60 per cent by private investors, the Kenya News Agency reported.

“In the national sector of irrigation, the government has come up with a plan of sh600 billion, of which 40 per cent will be done by the national government and development partners while 60 per cent will be done by the private sector,” he said.

He argued that more irrigation would raise food exports and support agro-processing, noting that 50 per cent of manufacturing depends on it. In Nandi alone, he said, the government had started 15 water projects meant to benefit 30,000 people.

Three colonial-era dams in Mosop

The most detailed figures from the tour come from Mosop Constituency, where three small dams built during the colonial period are earmarked for rehabilitation. According to the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, the work would bring a combined 2,380 acres under irrigation and serve about 9,520 households:

• Kapsigiryo Dam: the largest of the three, with a 21.5-acre reservoir holding an estimated 348,000 cubic metres. Its rehabilitation is expected to extend irrigation to 2,320 acres and benefit about 9,280 households.
• Kapng’ombe Dam: a four-acre reservoir with about 65,000 cubic metres of storage, expected to open up 43 acres for 172 households.
• Ndalat Dam: a 1.5-acre reservoir holding about 25,000 cubic metres, expected to bring 17 acres under irrigation for 68 households.

The ministry said Ndalat had silted up heavily, was choked with papyrus and reeds, had no spillway and had eroded sections of embankment, raising flood risks for nearby homes and farms. The planned works include desilting, clearing vegetation, stabilising the embankment and building a properly sized spillway. Farmers around the dam grow tea, coffee, cereals and horticultural crops.

“The President has heard your cry for water,” Mr Kimotho told residents during the inspection on Friday, October 16.

Irrigation Secretary John Tanui said the department wants to bring back dams that were abandoned or damaged. “We want to revive the colonial dams that were abandoned and destroyed so that we can use them for irrigation and thus prosper in the agricultural sector,” he said.

Other Nandi schemes

Earlier in the week, the PS held forums on three more projects in the county. The ministry said the proposed Kapnyemis project in Nandi Hills would irrigate about 150 acres for 900 households, while the Ndubenet project in Emgwen would desilt an 86-acre reservoir and lay a distribution network of about 30 kilometres to serve an estimated 928 acres. The Siwo project in Chepkunyuk Ward would use two new boreholes and solar pumps to irrigate about 300 acres for 400 households.

Local MPs backed the plans. Emgwen MP Joses Lelmengit said boreholes cannot meet demand in the area because underground water is limited, making dams the better option.

Small acreage against a big target

The Nandi projects together cover a few thousand acres, a small fraction of the 1.5 million-acre goal. No timeline was given for the national target, and the ministry did not give the cost of the individual dam works or say how private capital would be drawn into the 60 per cent share.

The push comes as dry weather has hit farm output. Formal milk deliveries fell during the recent dry spell, and the government has been relying on large dams such as Thwake, now 94 per cent complete, to expand irrigation in drier regions.