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{
    "id": 468368,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/468368/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 227,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "This Motion which is urging the Government to start irrigation is timely. Those virgin lands are very fertile. You will not apply DAP for the next three to four years. You will also not apply CAN for the next three to four years. That means that even if you have this challenge where when the main importer of fertilizer, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has a problem the way they do now, we will not be having food shortages in the years to come. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from West Pokot where God has blessed us with mighty rivers which pour a lot of water into two lakes. Lake Turkana gets free water from River Kerio. River Kerio is flooded 11 months in a year. You cannot even cross it. So, even if we draw a little bit and do irrigation in Masol in West Pokot County, Baringo County and Turkana County, Lake Turkana will not dry. Secondly, we have Murun River which is huge and full throughout the year. However, there is no irrigation being done. We also have River Suam. We have tapped water from it. We are now using it for irrigation at Turkwel. It was meant to irrigate 20,000 acres of land and yet we have not done it. I know if this Government takes part of the irrigation money which has been kept at the central Government and works closely with the county government where the land is, I am so sure that we can create enough food for our people and even transfer the technology and knowledge. I remember there is one scheme that was piloted in West Pokot; that is, the Wei Wei Irrigation Scheme. It is a small river, but it is serving thousands of acres of land which are very productive. The only challenge is the management which has a lot of problems. We have the KVDA which alleges to be managing it. So, the central Government sends the money to KVDA. There are a lot of stoppages and nothing moves. Now that we have the county Government, we have requested that the Wei Wei Irrigation Scheme should be handed over to the Governor, so that we can see if the management can change. When KVDA does the management, they buy four bags of DAP for one hectare yet that land does not need it, to the extent that there is now a lot of acidity that is being generated by these deposits of fertilizer. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, not very far from here, in Naivasha, the Delamere Farm, a lot of irrigation is being done using the technology we are talking about; the drip irrigation technique. They just dig boreholes. The machines are imported from South Africa or any other place. The circumference of the land covers not less than 100 acres. That is the type of technology we need right now in most areas where we do not have many rivers. This does not cost much. We only need to be serious. The only problem we have is that we suffer from the Kenyan syndrome and other problems whereby we are very aggressive in problem solving, but only by mouth. However, when it comes to implementation of the same, we do not participate. I am hoping that the one million acres we talked about – this is how the Jubilee Government got votes – will be used for this. We need to see the first few acres being utilized. We do not need millions of acres to start with. We can start this project in some counties before we roll it out in a bigger version. Nyanza and Budalangi are areas where every year there is havoc. In April and May every year, the Government money goes to rescue people who have been affected and evicted by water. This water can be trapped at its source by damming the river. Its source is at Cherangany Hills in West Pokot County The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}