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{
    "id": 788151,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/788151/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Hulufo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13348,
        "legal_name": "Hassan Oda Hulufo",
        "slug": "hassan-oda-hulufo-2"
    },
    "content": "which is taking place and which is affecting rainfall patterns in our country, the only option we have is to adequately finance irrigation. I am a first-term Member and I have taken my time, as I always do from the time I joined this House, to go through the entire Bill. I appreciate the various provisions, which in my opinion address the various concerns we have about irrigation in our country. Firstly, we need to appreciate that agriculture is a fully devolved function. For the last five years, there has not been a properly co-ordinated effort between the national Government and the county governments to identify areas suitable for irrigation and invest in the same. We have had NIB sitting in Nairobi, deciding where irrigation projects should be situated and at times without adequate participation of the county government as well as communities where those projects are supposed to take place. For us in ASAL areas, that kind of approach has not worked for us in the past. After Independence, in the mid 1970s and early 1980s, we had minor donor-funded irrigation schemes. For example, in my county of Isiolo, we had Merti Minor Irrigation Scheme, Malkadaka Irrigation Scheme, Rapsu Irrigation Scheme and Gafarsa Irrigation Scheme. None of those irrigation schemes succeeded basically because they were designed by experts in Nairobi and imposed on the communities which were not at the time even prepared to do farming because these are pure pastoral setups. Despite billions of Kenya shillings being sunk into those projects, their intended objectives have not been achieved. Therefore, as we support this Bill - hopefully it will go through and probably His Excellency the President will assent to it - we need to learn from those past failed projects. Most of these projects will probably end up being implemented in the ASAL areas. The issue of damming of rivers to support irrigation is of special concern to us in the ASAL areas. We want to see a situation where we make dams and achieve our food security objective, but at the same time we should not disadvantage the downstream users who in most cases are farmers. What I have appreciated in this Bill is that it does not look at irrigation or providing water only for crop farming, but it also talks of the rights of livestock owners. It also talks of rights of those who want to do fish farming and other farm activities. That is positive. The other provision which has also impressed me is the aspect of investing in water infrastructure for irrigation. The only concern, as I have already said, is that we have to be careful when we are damming rivers. It is true we have a lot of run-off water. For example, in the current rainy season, after going through two years of very severe drought in most ASAL areas, we are already experiencing torrential rains. We should focus on ASAL and damming the run-off water rather than damming of rivers. In particular, as a representative of Isiolo North and by extension an ASAL area which relies on River Ewaso Nyiro, I would like to express my concern on intentions to create a dam along River Ewaso Nyiro at a place called Crocodile Jaw. The intention is good but our feeling is that it will only benefit the upstream users. Again, this Bill, in line with the provisions of our Constitution, provides for compensation of people whose land will be acquired to either create space for dams or for an irrigation scheme. It is something very positive. We have had situations where the Government decides where to put up irrigation schemes and it is assumed that, particularly if it is an ASAL area, the land does not belong to any body. There are no individual titles and it is community land. The issue of compensation is never considered. Under the current constitutional dispensation and the Community Land Act which was passed by the 11th Parliament, we have good provisions to protect the interests of people who make way for irrigation schemes. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}