Topic: Ushirikiano wa Israel na Kenya wazalisha mradi wa Todonyang.

After the discovery of oil in Turkana County, the long marginalised and starving populations of Turkana will soon have more reason to celebrate as the Prime Minister Raila Odinga announced this week in parliament and also on social media that he will be visiting Turkana County for three days from 21st August that is from Tuesday, to formally launch the Integrated Tukana Basin Irrigation Project at Todonyang in Turkana County. During the three days, the PM will also be visiting Lokitaung, Lokichoggio, Kakuma, Lodwar, Loima, Lokichar and Lokori to launch and inspect various development projects initiated by the grand coalition government.

Perhaps more than oil prospecting and discovery, the people of Turkana will greatly appreciate the reality of the Todonyang Irrigation Project which aims to bring food security and economic empowerment to the locals. The project is dubbed as one of the largest irrigation initiatives in Kenya - a direct beneficiary of Israeli irrigation technology and expertise following a visit by Raila Odinga to Israel way back in 2011 where a deal was sealed with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with Kenya’s Minister for Water Development Charity Ngilu and Israeli’s Minister for Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Shimhon in Tel Aviv.

Speaking in parliament earlier this week during PMQ in response to questions by Turkana Central MP Ekwe Ethuro, PM Odinga affirmed his personal interest in the development projects within Turkana County.

The PM confirmed his belief of the great economic potential of Turkana County and how the national economy could benefit from greater investments in Turkana County.

The Integrated Lake Turkana Basin Development Programme has two components; the Todonyang Irrigation Project, a component of the Lake Turkana Basin Development Project which will irrigate 25,000 acres of land, and secondly the Furrows and Desert Agricultural Development Programme that seeks to promote dry land agriculture.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/10000+i...u/-/index.html

Kenya Daily: Kenya’s PM onTurkana irrigation

STATEMENT BY
RT. HON. RAILA AMOLO ODINGA, EGH, MP
PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA ON
THE LAKE TURKANA INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (LTIDP)

I last visited this place in May 2011 to assess the impact of drought in the region as well as to condole with the families of the Kenyans who were massacred by a militia group from the neighboring country. This area is marginalized and has a long history of insecurity, cattle-rustling, livestock losses through drought, famines, border disputes, lack of basic infrastructure and under-developed social sector such as education, health and trade. Due to these challenges, the region has lagged behind in development; thus making it difficult to integrate into the economy of the rest of the country. Whereas this unfortunate situation has persisted, the region is endowed with vast natural resources such as fertile land and fisheries which have remained unexploited. Considering this potential, I announced plans to immediately put 10,000 hectares of land in Todonyang under irrigation to produce maize, sorghum, vegetables and fruits to ease the food crisis frequently experienced. This was the beginning of my push to have development resources and services brought to this region.

Pursuit to this goal, in August 2011 a technical team from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the National Irrigation Board conducted a preliminary assessment on the viability of the project. The study concluded that the irrigation project was viable. However, there were two fundamental challenges of insecurity and unclear boundary delineation, which needed to be addressed first.

Given the cross-cutting nature of issues involved in the implementation, I formed an Inter-Ministerial Taskforce to address the pertinent issues and prepare an implementation framework. Among the major tasks include border beacon re-establishment, security enhancement, feasibility studies and technical designs, and the execution of the plans.

Since then, security has been beefed up in Todonyang and further plans are ongoing to ensure permanent security in the entire region is guaranteed. A joint Kenya – Ethiopia team has been constituted to re-establish the border beacons and carry out peace building initiatives. This work should be finalized before the end of the year.

After consultations with stakeholders, and considering the need for holistic development approach of within the Lake Turkana basin through harnessing of the waters of perennial rivers of Turkwel, Kerio, Omo and other seasonal streams including other natural resources within the catchment, the mandate of the taskforce was expanded to focus on an integrated Lake Turkana Basin Development Programme. Lake Turkana basin covers Turkana, Marsabit and Samburu counties with a total area of 155,020 km2 and a population of over 1.4 million people. Todonyang irrigation scheme is the first phase of this programme.

A lot of effort has gone into this project. In November 2011, during my official visit to Israel, I entered into an agreement with Israeli Minister for Industry, Trade and Labor for the Israeli government to provide technical support to the development of the proposed Todonyang irrigation project and dryland agriculture ‘Furrows in the Desert Project’ at Lobur. This commitment was further reinforced by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through a letter addressed to me dated 17th April 2012. The Israeli Ambassador to Kenya, His Excellency Gil Heskel and other officials from the Embassy, have accompanied me to witness the progress of this initiave. Also present are experts from Amiran who are providing technical support.

The Todonyang Irrigation Scheme is designed to promote irrigated agriculture integrated with livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and ecotourism. The estimated cost of the project is Kshs. 20 billion covering 10, 000 hectares. The success of the project will improve food security and nutrition of the local population. It will also generate employment and increase income for the betterment of livelihoods. I would like to take this earliest opportunity to urge the local community to participate actively in order to reap maximum benefits accrued from it.

The Furrows in the Desert project at Lobur is designed to introduce sustainable dry-land agriculture through harnessing of surface and underground water resources using appropriate technologies for integrated crop and livestock enterprises. This project is a joint venture between the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) of Catholic Diocese of Lodwar, in collaboration with 2 Israel organizations; Brit Olam and Arava Center for Sustainable Development. The Government of Kenya will contribute to the up scaling the project through co-funding of the construction of Maisa water dam and establishing a 10-hectare drip irrigation model farm at Lobur using water from the dam.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation through National Irrigation Board has allocated a total of Ksh 300 million; of which Ksh 100 million will be used to construct Maisa dam and establish a 10-hectare irrigation project at lobur. Ksh 150 million will go into Todonyang irrigation project and further Kshs. 50 million to the construction of Todonyang community water supply and a 5-hectare model farm.

Lastly, I am directing the various implementing agencies and stakeholders to move with speed in executing the project and bring it to fruition within the shortest time possible.

With these few words, I officially launch the Todonyang Irrigation project.

Thank you.

FLASHBACK:

TURKANA WILL GET KENYA'S LARGEST IRRIGATION SCHEME



PM Raila Odinga, Water Minister Charity Ngilu, Israeli Minister for Industry, Trade and Labour
Shalom Shimhon and other delegates in Tel Aviv in 2011

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has sealed deal with his Israeli counterpart that will see over 10,000 hectares of land in Turkana put under irrigation. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in Kenya in January next year to inaugurate what will become Kenya’s largest irrigation scheme.

The project in the Todonyang area of Turkana is set to be the first large-scale beneficiary of Israeli technology and expertise after the Israel agreed to fund it and provide technical support. Raila sealed the deal at a meeting with Israel's Minister for Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Shimhon in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The deal was signed soon after the opening of the Sixth International Exhibition and the Third International Conference on Water Technologies, Renewable Energy and Environmental Control. At the meeting, also attended by Water and Irrigation minister Charity Ngilu, Raila asked Israel to expand its cooperation with Kenya to cover irrigation schemes, vocational training for farmers in water management, and the production of cheap, quality fertilisers and seeds.

The PM said the government is determined to introduce irrigated agriculture among pastoral communities in northern Kenya as a way of weaning them from pastoralism.

He said the droughts and floods of recent years have shown that pastoralism is badly affected by climate change and is no longer a sustainable way of life. "The Turkana region has suffered massively and persistently from droughts that are clearly a result of climate change. People here feel abandoned. We have to do something, and not just in Turkana but in the whole of northern Kenya and other arid lands. We have made a decision to start with irrigation in Todonyang," Raila said.

Minister Shimhon said Israel is ready to send experts to Turkana and to begin working with the Kenya government to source funds. He asked the government to constitute a high level technical team to work with Israel on modalities for starting the project. The PM said the ministries of Water and Agriculture will constitute the team jointly next week and inform Tel Aviv so that the work can begin.

He called for the development and sharing of technologies that would ensure people have access to clean water without destroying the environment. Raila appealed for measures to ensure farmers access water and produce food without creating more pollution.

The PM regretted that in most cases expansion in agricultural production has led to compromised water quality especially in rural areas. He said science has rarely worked for those in dire need of its services due to the unwillingness of innovators to share with the poor or make their innovations affordable to them.

"In some places where the capacity and enthusiasm to implement new ideas exists, there may be no innovations or new ideas to implement," the PM said, adding that scientists need to address such contradictions. Raila leaves Israel for Nairobi today, shortly after visiting Bethlehem. The PM was accompanied in Israel by ministers George Saitoti, Magerer Langat and Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo.

Turkana will get Kenya

Agwambo on the move...