{"id":770002,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/770002/?format=json","text_counter":225,"type":"other","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"government to become legitimate it must be able to provide or feed its people. Under Article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, every person in Kenya has a right to be free from hunger. As such, it is important for the Government to provide for its people. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that brings us to the National Irrigation Policy 2017. In Kenya today a paltry 161,840 hectares of land is under irrigation, which is only about 12 per cent of the total potential area that we have in the country, which is about 1.3 million hectares. Therefore, I cannot overstate the urgent need that we have for a framework that allows the full exploitation and sustainability to increase food production. Globally, as the population rises, so does the requirement to have more food production, and Kenya is not unique. As our population has risen, the demand for food production has become very high, but due to factors such as weather changes, the forest cover has diminished. The communities that used to farm have recently abandoned farming and productivity per acreage has dropped significantly. This has led to food shortage. With all that, we seem to have a big shortage when it comes to this issue. Globally, only about 50 per cent of arable land is under cultivation, but in comparison, only about 30 per cent of it is under cultivation in Kenya. So, there is a need to have a better irrigation policy, so that we can cater for our population as a country. We have also been experiencing shortages as well in the food basket counties. We have seen the acreage of land under production of food go down, be they for maize, wheat, beans, green grams, rice and different kinds of cereals. This has not helped as the population of our country has risen. Therefore, as a country, there is a lot that needs to be done. There is need to make sure that this National Irrigation Policy of 2017 works, so that we can still provide enough food for our population, despite the fact that we have failures in rainfall which is affecting the cultivation of crops. We have also seen this affecting pastures and grazing lands thus leading to drought. This has led to negative impact, resulting in the deaths of livestock as well as livelihoods of the population that depends on livestock. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this National Irrigation Policy recognizes and upholds the participation of all the relevant stakeholders, including farmers and the communities in the implementation of the Policy on Irrigation Development and Management as a national value and principle of governance. It also recognizes and takes into account the fact that this will require the cooperation between the national Government as well as the county governments. As you are aware, there are many counties that are in the process of constructing water dams across the country. The dams will be of various sizes and they will have a lot of water holding capacities to ensure that water availability for irrigation is sustainable as we move forward. For example, we have the Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga that was recently launched. We also have Kariminu Dam in Kiambu, Thwake Dam in Kitui County and Itare Dam in Nakuru County, among many others. This will help in water harnessing strategies that will boost irrigation across the country and counties. With better irrigation technology, the farmers will have better production and this will lead to sustainable means to enhance food production across the country, given our very fast growing population. We have also had a rise in urbanization across the country. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"}