Lower Kuja Irrigation Scheme

Lower Kuja Irrigation Development Project is located in Nyatike Sub County in Migori County, close to the shores of Lake Victoria within the Lower Kuja River basin. The project is situated about 400 km to the west of Nairobi County, 110 km to the South of Kisumu County, 45 km to the north-west of Migori town and 15 km to the West of Macalder Township; the Nyatike Sub-County headquarter. It covers 6 locations and 13 sub-locations in Nyatike and Karungu Divisions and has 14 Blocks which are potentially meant for crop production. Currently, Block M, Block 1.1, Block 2.1 and Block 3 are doing crop production under irrigation Farming of which, Rice forms the major crop which is being grown among other crops such as Sugarcane, Horticulture and tuber crops.

The Scheme gazette area is 19,000 acres, out of which 7,500 have been developed for irrigation benefiting around 4,750 households. Currently, 5,400 acres are under crop. Crop diversification has been gradually adopted in the irrigation scheme with the aim of solving persistent problems such as limited access to market, credit and financing, and lack of education and technical skills.

• Ensuring food security at the local level and contributing towards the same at national level
• Reducing the rice deficit in the country
• Creation of employment for Youth and Women at the local and national level.
• Wealth creation and improvement of livelihoods
• Contributing to sustainable supply of raw materials for Agro-based industries
• Contribution to foreign exchange generation through export of surplus food and cash crops.

• Location/County – Nyatike Sub-county in Migori County
• Year of establishment – 2019
• Gazetted Area – 19,000 Acres
• Irrigation Area – 50,000 acres (with storage) & 19,000 acres (without storage)
• Area developed for irrigation in acres – 7,500 Acres
• MArea under production – 5,400 Acres
• Main Crop – Rice
• Other crops – Sugarcane, horticultural crops and tuber crops
• Source of irrigation water – River Kuja and Migori
• No. of Farmers – 4,750 Households
• Type of irrigation – Basin, furrow, drip, sprinkler, and overhead irrigation system