THE PRESIDENT LAUNCHES THE LOWER KUJA IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PHASE II.

On 28th August 2024, His Excellency Hon. William Samoei Ruto, PhD., C.G.H. President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-In-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces officially launched the Lower Kuja Irrigation Development Project Phase II.
In his speech after the launch, The President said that the Government has allocated Kes 150 million in the FY 2024/2025 for works and land compensation and promised to add another Kes 150Million to continue the works he launched today. He further committed to support the project with another Kes 500 million next financial year.

He said, “Our purpose is to ensure that 19,000 acres are put under irrigation here at Lower Kuja Irrigation Development Project to enable farmers produce rice, sugar and other crops to eliminate hunger in Kenya.”
He continued to urge the residents to take advantage of the efforts put in place by the Government and produce food to ensure increase in the locally produced rice in Kenya and reduce on its importation.
The President appreciated the farmers as well as the Authority for enabling production of rice in Nyatike and noted that the rice produced in the already developed area is contributing imensely to the Kenya’s food basket. He further directed the National Cereal Produce Board and the County Government of Migori to provide market for the rice produced in Nyatike.

Lower Kuja Irrigation Development Project is located in Nyatike sub-County, Migori County. Its objective is to:

• Ensure food security.
• Irrigate 19,000 acres to produce approx. 80,000 metric tons of rice and other crops.
• Improve livelihood and create employment to directly benefit 4,750 households and employ 98,000 persons indirectly.
• Wealth creation of approx. Kes 6 billion annually.
• Contributing to sustainable supply of raw materials for agro-based industries.
• Contribution to foreign exchange generation through export of horticultural produce.

Currently, 2,150 acres is under rice while 5,568 acres is under sugarcane and other crops. This together with the Intake, sedimentation basin and the main canal were developed during phase I. Under phase II launched by the President today, water conveyance infrastructure for an additional 11, 347 acres is targeted to be developed.

Once fully developed, the total area under irrigation will be 19,000 acres. An additional acreage to reach the scheme’s full potential of over 50,000 acres will be realized once Gogo Dam is constructed. The Authority is committed to realizing its new vision of “irrigation for a food secure and prosperous nation.”