Water Management in Kenya_Water, Food and Agriculture
IFAP at the 3rd World Water Forum
Presented by Mrs. Mercy Karanja, Kenya National Farmers Union
Japan, 16-23 March 2003
1. Introduction
Agriculture, Food and Water are the basics which are essential for the day to day well being and survival of mankind the world over and particularly so in the developing world where poverty famine and diseases frequently threaten the livelihood of most of the communities.
In Kenya Agriculture is the mainstay of the national economy and constitutes the main source of livelihood for most Kenyans.
The Agricultural Sector contributes about 55% of the Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), provides 80% of employment, contributes 60% of exports and generates 45% of government revenue. It is with this in mind that the National Development plans have continued to recognize the need for a well-developed agricultural sector.
Kenya’s development policy has continued to lay emphasis on food self-sufficiency, food security, employment creation, income generation, increased foreign exchange earnings, rural-urban balance and attainment of overall economic growth as the main development objectives.
However, over the last two decades or so, Kenya has continued to experience a rapid growth in human population, and this trend is likely to continue into the near future. This therefore means that the demand for food will continue to be high. Increased food production and food security will therefore remain key priority areas in the agricultural sector. In addition, the continued production of raw materials for domestic agro-based industries and for agricultural exports is likely to remain one of the major development objectives well into the next millennium.
Agricultural production in Kenya is predominantly rain-fed. In view of the large land area (over 80%) of the country of with low moisture content, Kenya agricultural potential should mainly be exploited effectively through irrigation. One option for poverty reduction is therefore promotion of sustainable community-based irrigation development through greater involvement of local communities and beneficiaries. Harnessing of the county’s irrigation potential, coupled with efficient utilization of available water resources for agriculture through appropriate water harvesting technologies, would improve the food security situation in the marginal areas as well as generate employment and income for households in marginal, medium and high potential areas.
2. Irrigated area current status
2.1 Irrigation Potential
The irrigation potential in Kenya is estimated at 540,000 ha out of which only 87,000 ha is currently developed which represent 16% of the potential. Over last decade, the area under the smallholder and private sector has continued to expand while that of public schemes has declined.
The government is promoting smallholder-irrigated agriculture, which are operated and maintained by the farmers themselves
Comparative irrigation development status per category
Item Sector Area (ha) Crops
1. Small holder Schemes 34,650 Rice, maize, horticulture
2. Private Schemes 40,700 Coffee, pineapples, horticulture
3. Public Schemes 12,000 Rice, cotton, horticulture
TOTAL 87,350
Source: MOA&LD
2.2 Water management for Smallholder Irrigation
Smallholder irrigation is an approach to implementation of irrigation schemes as part of a rural development process that is initiated, managed and owned by the irrigators themselves.. Of course larger irrigation projects may still be implemented on a smallholder basis, where only the major irrigation and drainage works are centrally managed and maintained by a water undertaker-but the individual schemes within the project are managed and operated by the farmers themselves. In this case, the schemes pay water fees to cover the operational costs of the Water Undertaker.
2.3 Constraints to Irrigation Development
Of the identified potential only 16% have so far been exploited. The rate of development has been quite low. The main constraints contributing to the low rate of irrigation development have been identified as:
· Lack of comprehensive National irrigation policy and comprehensive legal framework for irrigation development. The Irrigation Act of 1966 only mandated the NIB to administer, co-ordinate and manage the public irrigation schemes. Most of these schemes are currently not operational.
· In adequate coordination within the irrigation sector that has led to duplication of efforts, conflicts of interest and inefficiency in the utilization of water resources
· Inadequate funding for irrigation development;
· Uneven distribution of water resource in terms of season and regions;
· Lack of adequate infrastructure such as electricity near water sources, roads and marketing;
· Low yield per unit area,
· Lack of adequate credit facilities;
· Land tenure systems: - In large irrigation projects, e.g. the NIB schemes, farmers occupy land as tenants. In this kind of arrangements, farmers do not have ownership rights and as such, the uncertainty of land ownership leads to a feeling of insecurity and low morale hence low productivity.
The Government is preparing a national irrigation policy to enhance development of the potential of irrigated agriculture in order to strengthen the country’s overall agricultural performance, and increase the productivity in the sector. This will go a long way in improving self-sufficiency in food; enhance livestock production and poverty alleviation.
To accelerate irrigation development, it is targeted to expand irrigated agriculture by developing 5,000 ha and 4,000 ha of irrigation and poorly drained lands every year respectively
3. Strategies to stimulate agricultural growth and rural development
In the last few years agricultural sector has not performed well and so has the overall economy. To inject growth to our economy, agricultural growth trend must be reversed. The Government in collaboration with other stakeholders, has prepared a Kenya Rural Development Strategy (KRDS), which aims to improve agriculture as well as rural development
The Mission of the KRDS is to define a road map to facilitate participatory rural development through equitable and improved access to productive assets and services to promote food security, employment, higher incomes and welfare. It is the road map to assist the government, private sector, religious groups, NGOs, local communities etc in defining interventions to improve rural well being. The strategy is to be implemented by all stakeholders and is to be implemented through the three-year Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
The principal components and objectives of the KRDS, just to mention a few, are to:
· Contribute to the overall national development objectives of economic growth, poverty reduction and food security development.
· Identify the need or, and facilitate agriculture to link horizontally to, ensure consistency with other sectors in a broad concept of rural development.
Approximately 60% of the Kenya’s population live below the poverty line. Women led households are the most affected .The Government has the responsibility to reverse this trend for the better. The KRDS and PRSP are some of the efforts by the government.
The agriculture development strategy that is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development includes the development of rangelands of Kenya using the meagre water resources in these areas.
Rangelands of Kenya are mainly found in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) and constitute 84% of Kenya’s land surface, support over 25% of the human population and more than half of the livestock population. Water availability is a pre-condition for improved livelihood and for improved utilization of water resources in a sustainable manner for the benefit of livestock production.
The current KRDS and the National Development Plan has identified the promotion of water conservation as one way of improving productivity of rangelands.
Water conservation and water demand management involves protection of water resources and increasing the efficiency with which water is used.
It also requires improved water use management and introduction of appropriate water saving irrigation technologies.
Water harvesting for crops and livestock is therefore being promoted by sinking of wells, boreholes and spring protection and catchments conservation and management technologies such as rainwater harvesting and storage are being disseminated for use during the dry season.
Besides agriculture, cottage and rural agricultural based industries, also requires water as well as energy and as you may be aware, our energy is mainly from hydropower.
Water is a social resource since it is basic for support of human life. It is also an economic resource on which the livelihood of farming population depend
Access to clean water and safe sanitation is therefore critical to both good health and nutritional status of the people. However about 67% of our rural population have no access to clean water. In addition, about 34% of our rural households spend on average between 16 to 30 minutes per day fetching water, which translate into 15% of the women’s time. Households in the ASAL areas cover much longer distances searching for water and queuing at water points. This negatively affects the agricultural productivity of the rural community.
An Integrated Water Resources development and Management Strategy has therefore been adopted to enhance water availability for sustainable agricultural development, especially on the now booming horticultural and floricultural development, which is one of our major foreign exchange earners.
4. Conclusion and recommendation
To ensure sustainability of rural development program
a. A rural development program must be in line with the social, economic, customary and environmental realities of a certain country or region to minimize chances of failure this therefore calls for dialogue with all stakeholders in all the stages of project development (the entire project cycle).
b. There is need to develop management capability of the local communities so that they can effectively manage their projects.
c. There is need for more financial support to speed up rural development, resources also need to be utilized more effectively and wherever possible the incorporation of the locally available material be done.
d. An integrated rural development approach is of paramount importance to maximize the use and sharing of the meagre resources. Poverty reduction, quality of life and equity considerations need therefore to be considered in the planning/provision of activities in rural development process.