Posted on March, 1, 2019 at 08:55 am
By KURGAT MARINDANY
Residents of Nguruman, Kajiado county, are struggling to survive after a Sh360 million irrigation system was swept away by floods.
More than 1,500 large- and small -scale irrigation farmers that supplied food to county and parts of Narok are living in poverty.
The Kajiado County Assembly on Wednesday adopted a report detailing how the African Development Bank project in Nguruman escarpment has failed.
It said 60 per cent of the project’s piping system collapsed one year ago and two water off-take points for two rivers were badly damaged by floods late last year.
The assembly held an open-air Bunge Mashinani sitting in Magadi on Wednesday night. It listened to residents’ complaints.
It heard that the Irrigation Water Users Association in partnership with the AfDB designed a system using piped channels to create an efficient supply network to all farms in 2008. It broke down one year ago leaving hundreds of farmers without water.
MCA Joseph Masiaya (Magadi) told the assembly, the project launched by then Agriculture minister William Ruto, had improved the situation at Nguruman, but the piping systems were swept away by floods leaving. About 60 per cent of the farmers are without water.
Masiaya said, “Considering the topography of Nguruman escarpment and deep gorges that source tributaries of the Ewuaso-Ng’iro River, flash flooding became uncontrollable due to high velocity owing to the slope.”
The proceeding was attended by hundreds of residents from the affected areas.
Speaker Johnson Osoi directed the county executive for Water, Irrigation and natural resources to assess the flood destruction and come up with strategies to assist farmers.
Elder Michael Kasyoki from Nguruman said the floods had completely damaged two water off-take points at the tributary of the Oloibortoto and Entasopia rivers.
“When the AfDB and the government brought this project, we were not consulted. They did their thing and told us they spent Sh360 million on it,” Kisyoki said.
He said that before the AfDB project, irrigated their farms by flooding them. Kisyoki said and all the forests and wild fruit did well until they brought in the new system that directed too little water, to the farms.
Speaker Johnson Osoi directed the county executive member for irrigation to immediately assess the impact of the flood destruction on piped channels at Nguruman and come up with strategies to assist farmers.
Source: The Star