Posted on November, 23, 2018 at 11:27 am
By GEORGE MURAGE
The government plans to increase irrigated land under maize by close to 200,000 acres to address the perennial shortage.
The country’s annual consumption is 52 million bags of 90kg.
The Agriculture ministry has said it is possible to increase maize production from the current 40 million bags to 67 million bags by 2022.
Irrigation PS Fred Segor said the country is unable to meet its maize demand and has to import from neighbouring countries.
“To meet the 2022 maize production target, it’s proposed that we expand irrigated land under maize by 195,909 acres,” he said.
Segor further said the government plans to increase rice production from the current 112,800 to 408,486 metric tonnes.
“The current annual rice consumption is 538,370 metric tonnes and plans are underway to expand land under rice irrigation by 1,000 acres by 2019,” he said.
The PS spoke during the ongoing engineering partnership convention at Sawela Lodge in Naivasha. The event has been organised by the Engineers Board of Kenya.
“Engineers play a crucial role in the country’s development and we are challenging them to be proactive in policy making and to assist in innovation, mainly in the water sector,” Segor said.
Board chairman Maina Wanjua said they are keen to partner with the government to achieve the Big Four agenda.
Source: The Star