NAIROBI, March 19 (Xinhua/APP): Unperturbed by scorching heat that enveloped the undulating plains of Siaya county in western Kenya, Peter Onyango directed water to freshly dug furrows in readiness for planting a variety of indigenous vegetables.
The 69-year-old farmer has a towering height that gives him an edge when it comes to supervising a group of farmers in his native village who are drawing water from a nearby canal, built by China’s Sino Hydro Company Limited to irrigate parched communal land and grow food crops.
The canal, which snakes through the dry but nutrient-rich farmland he co-owns with clan members, is a dream come true for villagers yearning to be food secure, said Onyango, his face glowing.
“This is the first season we are planting amaranth, Ethiopian kales, tomatoes, and onions by irrigating our portions of land using water from the canal,” he said during a recent interview.
“In this communal land that was previously bushy and abandoned, we have 30 farmers who are using furrow irrigation to grow crops,” Onyango said. “We expect an abundant harvest to fill our granaries and sell the surplus to nearby markets.”
A critical component of the Lower Nzoia Irrigation project, the 111 kilometers of canals that comprise the main canal, secondary and tertiary canals, and 71 kilometers of drainage canals were constructed by Sino Hydro.
The project’s first phase will be completed in May 2025, putting 10,000 acres under irrigation on the river’s left bank and targeting 12,600 farmers as beneficiaries, according to the National Irrigation Authority, a state agency.
The second phase will bring an additional 10,000 acres under irrigation on the right side of the river, with beneficiaries expected to put 5,000 acres under high-value cash crops and 5,000 acres under rice and other food crops, generating an estimated 4.8 billion shillings (37 million U.S. dollars) in annual revenue, according to the agency.
One of the major tributaries that drain into Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake, the Nzoia River, is a source of livelihood for millions of people in western Kenya.
In the sun-baked lowlands of Siaya County, the irrigation project has been embraced by smallholder farmers like Onyango, who foresee a reprieve from shrinking crop yield occasioned by erratic rains.
Onyango is the chair of block two of the irrigation project that has 14 blocks, and his group has already sowed seeds for amaranth and other high-value vegetables, hoping for a bumper harvest in three months.
Josephine Akinyi, a mother of five, hailed the Chinese-built canal near her home, saying it will enable her transition from subsistence to a profitable farming venture, now that water to irrigate the crops is abundant.
“Now we will be able to grow crops throughout the seasons since we can divert water from the canal to our farms using gravity,” she said. “I thank the Chinese company that brought us this development.”
Samuel Oduor, a middle-aged farmer who belongs to block one of the irrigation projects, said it has saved him the agony of operating an expensive diesel-powered generator to pump water from the Nzoia River into his farm.
With his farm dotted with tomatoes, kales and cowpeas that are nearing maturity, Oduor anticipates a windfall once he secures a stable market for the fresh produce.
The Lower Nzoia Irrigation Project is a national project, domiciled in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Its implementation started in June 2018, with the goal of mitigating floods and increasing the acreage of land under irrigation in western Kenya.
Two demonstration sites have been set up to showcase the best irrigation practices, while linking farmers to aggregators, said Edward Mare Muya, an irrigation agronomist contracted by the National Irrigation Authority, the implementing agency.
“We have high hopes for this project. It is transforming this region, and it is the best for commercializing agricultural production systems, more so horticulture,” he said.
The irrigation project is cost-effective and greener, enabling smallholder farmers to leverage gravity instead of energy-intensive generators to pump water from canals into farms, Muya said.
The project is utilizing three parameters, including soil productivity, water availability and water utility index, to inform its replication countrywide, he said.
Muya stressed that the project could serve as a model for leveraging appropriate technologies, innovations and best management practices to hasten the transition from rain-fed to irrigated farming, which is more climate resilient.
“Irrigation is the way to address negative aspects of climate change, and this flagship project is a model for others to learn from and scale up,” he said.