After years of waiting, renunciation and accusations of mismanagement, the Galala valley irrigation project in the Kulalu area may have reached a decisive turning point.
A turning point that would allow thousands of local farmers and their families, in the hinterland of Malindi and up to the entrance of the Tsavo National Park, not to have to depend on the purchase of maize, being able to grow their crops thanks to a mega irrigation system for food development designed by an Israeli company, Green Arava.
Not only that, but the local population could also benefit by purchasing cornmeal from local producers at competitive prices. If the pilot project, developed on 10,000 acres of land, were to work, the entire valley could be transformed into a huge cultivated field in which orchards (mangoes, pineapples, papayas) and other crops, such as cashews and coconut palms, are also planned.
After two years of work, including a dam near the entrance to Tsavo and 5 billion shillings invested, the Israelis left the partnership with Kenya, fearing problems linked to corruption and the cartel of national flour producers. After this exit, the county government pointed the finger at the mismanagement of the project by national institutions and promised solutions.
Now, according to the People Daily, the government has invested 800 million Kenyan shillings to complete the agricultural development that will extend from the Kulalu area to the Tana River county.
Chairman of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), Joshua Toro told the newspaper that the project should be completed by the end of the year, and then open the way for public and private companies, joint ventures and cooperatives to manage over 200,000 acres of irrigation for the largest programme of its kind in southern Kenya.
The current contractor is Kenyan and has a much smaller budget and probably less problems than the previous one. Toro confirmed that NIA will be involved in every step of the project and that infrastructure development is already well advanced, with a pumping station built to protect against flooding of the river and the pipeline connected to 25 irrigation distributors.