A new dam for agriculture purposes is set to be built in Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya. The county’s Agriculture Officer, Mary Nzomo who launched the project said the aim is to improve the supply of irrigation water.
The dam project will be located in Amani village in Chepchoina Endebess sub-county and will cost approximately US $165,000 that will be issued by the County Government. Upon completion it will have a be able to hold 67,118 m3 of water benefiting more than 300 farmers in Amani, Vamia and Njoro villages in Trans-Nzoia County.
NARIGP
The new water reservoir will also provide water for households and pastoralists. New pipes will facilitate the distribution of water at the community point and at the livestock watering point, avoiding interference with irrigation pipes.
The initiative supports the National Agricultural and Rural Growth Project (NARIGP), which has already rehabilitated 395 farms, equivalent to 264.4 hectares of land, with irrigation systems in the Kenyan county.
This is a five-year development project initiated by the Government of Kenya with support from the World Bank and implemented by the county governments. With an overall cost of US $219M, NARIGP will eventually increase agricultural yields in the rural communities selected for the project.
“Our farmers depend entirely on maize cultivation, and the future dam will allow us to diversify our crops. These farmers are specialized in growing tomatoes and other horticultural crops, including the banana value chain. The project will also reduce food insecurity in the county and throughout Kenya. In the East African country, famine affects 2.4 million people across some 20 arid and semi-arid northern counties, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),” Nzomo.
