The Senate standing committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries led by its chairman and Kirinyaga County Senator Hon. Kamau Murango visited Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga County as part of its oversight engagements with the scheme.
The Committee started with a courtesy call to the Kirinyaga County Commissioner Mr. Hussein Allasow then Kirinyaga County Governor where they were received by the Deputy Governor Hon. David Githanda and a host of other leaders from the County Government.
After the Courtesy calls, they visited Thiba Dam, Mwea Irrigation Development Project Package II ( Irrigation Area), and the rice farms in Wamumu to check the extent of golden apple snail invasion and mitigation measures put in place and the state of infrastructure development in the scheme.
For the field visit, they were received and taken through by National Irrigation Authority Chairman Eng. Gilbert Maluki, CEO Eng. Charles Muasya, MBS, and other senior officials from the Authority.
The construction of Mwea Irrigation Development Project has two components, package I (The construction of Thiba dam and its structures) and package II (the construction of irrigation area).
The construction of Thiba Dam which commenced in November 2018 and was completed in April 2022 and has since been used to bridge the gap in water requirements in the scheme.
Package II which involves expansion of the mwea scheme especially in mutithi expansion entails the lining of 2.4 KM link canal III, construction of 23KM irrigation canals, construction of 24 KM drain canals, construction of 9.9 KM of scheme roads and construction of office buildings an accommodation. The overall project progress is at 73%.
In mwea Irrigation Scheme, there are 100 species of golden snails. Two species commonly known as Pomacea canaliculate and pomacea maculate, commonly know as Golden apple snails are highly invasive and cause damage to rice crops. They cut rice stem at the base destroying the whole plant.
To manage the snails, NIA has consolidated all the technical information and management options, conducted weekly sensitization efforts in 68 units in the scheme with 9 sections (Tebere, Mwea, Kiamanyeki, Thiba, Wamumu, Karaba, Nderwa, Kianugu and Cumbiri), worked with Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) in the trials and fast tracking pesticides registration and continued scouting and monitoring to track the spread of the pest to other areas in the scheme.
NIA has also commenced trials on raising seedlings on plastic trays which is an effort to enhance mechanization in transplanting.
Over the past 5 years, the scheme has undergone several expansion and improvement of infrastructures and management including the construction of a dam, primary and secondary access roads, canals and other irrigation infrastructure. Through grading and pothole filling, the scheme maintains an average of 130 KM of the primary and secondary access roads.
The annual road maintence programme is financed through O&M fees that is paid by farmers and sometimes through partnership with the County Governent. NIA has developed a total length of 1,223.3 KM of canals in the scheme. 45.1 KM of primary canals, 92.2 KM of secondary canals and 1086.1 KM of Tertiary canals.
After the field visit, the committee was impressed with the progress of works in the scheme. They urged NIA to ensure the contractors working on Mwea Irrigation Development Project package II speeds up and ensure the remaining 27% of works is completed on time.
They requested the Authority to partner with the County Government and other partners to ensure the on-farm (tertiary) roads have been developed by grading and pothole filling to make the farms accessible during the rainy seasons.
They also requested NIA in collaboration with other partners such as CABI, KEPHIS, PP&FS to work closely with farmers and ensure the problem of Golden Apple Snail is delt with once and for all.
The Authority is committed to Providing and Coordinating Sustainable Development and Management of Irrigation Services in Kenya which contributes to food security in line with Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BeTA).