KENYA MOJA

When Kenya’s Irrigation Secretary for Land Reclamation, Climate Resilience and Irrigation Water Management, Mr. Joel Tanui , visited Thailand’s irrigation and rice institutions in Chiang Mai , the significance went far beyond diplomatic exchange. It was a strategic benchmarking mission .  At its core was a simple but urgent question: how did Thailand move from food insecurity to becoming one of the world’s leading rice exporters , and what can Kenya practically replicate? For a country like Kenya, where rice imports still fill part of the national consumption gap, the lessons from Thailand are not academic. They are economic. They are strategic. And they are deeply relevant to the future of irrigation, climate resilience , and food security. Why Thailand Matters to Kenya’s Irrigation Ambition Thailand made a deliberate decision decades ago to stabilize its agriculture through irrigation. Instead of relying on seasonal rainfall, it invested in dams , canals, and structured wat...

When the Departmental Committee on Blue Economy, Water and Irrigation convened this week under the chairmanship of Hon. Kangongo Bowen the session went beyond routine fiscal oversight. It became a strategic checkpoint on how Kenya intends to future-proof its agriculture in the face of climate volatility .  Appearing before the Committee to present the State Department for Irrigation’s FY 2026/27 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), Irrigation PS Ephantus Kimotho outlined a blueprint that positions irrigation not as a sectoral intervention, but as a structural pillar of national stability. The engagement provided Parliament with a comprehensive update on progress, priorities and the fiscal architecture required to sustain irrigation expansion. More importantly, it reinforced a central message: irrigation is no longer a complementary input to agriculture, it is becoming its backbone. Climate Reality and the End of Rain-Fed Certainty Kenya’s agricultural model has long been tethered...

  The Government has continued to anchor irrigation development at the centre of local economic transformation, recognising water as both a productive asset and a stabilising force for communities facing climate uncertainty . This policy direction was evident during an inspection of the ongoing Okundi Dam Irrigation Project in Karachuonyo Constituency , Homa Bay County , led by Principal Secretary for Irrigation CPA Ephantus Kimotho , alongside Hon. Adipo Okuome , the Deputy County Commissioner, and senior officials from the County Government. The visit offered an opportunity not only to assess construction progress, but also to engage beneficiaries and reaffirm the strategic intent behind the investment. At Okundi, irrigation is being deployed as a practical solution to long-standing constraints that have limited agricultural productivity and household incomes. The project reflects a deliberate effort by the State Department for Irrigation to move beyond seasonal interventions ...

  The Government has intensified its push to reposition irrigation as a central pillar of Kenya’s climate resilience and food security strategy, with a renewed focus on how water infrastructure, ecosystems, and finance intersect. This direction was clearly articulated during a high-level brainstorming engagement between the State Department for Irrigation, led by Principal Secretary CPA Ephantus Kimotho , and the leadership of CIFOR-ICRAF , headed by Director General and CEO Dr Éliane Ubalijoro . The discussion centred on a shared ambition to green Kenya’s six priority dams while unlocking climate finance and translating the country’s vast natural endowments into productive, climate-resilient agriculture. At its core, the engagement reflected a deliberate shift in how irrigation policy is being framed. No longer viewed merely as an engineering or water delivery function, irrigation is increasingly being positioned as a system that integrates land, water, forests, finance, and d...

On Tuesday, 3 February 2026, the Nguruman plains in Kajiado West Constituency offered more than a routine project stopover. Principal Secretary for Irrigation, CPA Ephantus Kimotho, CBS , was on site to inspect the Nguruman Irrigation Project , but the visit carried broader policy significance. It reflected how Kenya’s irrigation agenda is increasingly being framed not as isolated infrastructure delivery, but as a system-wide response to climate risk, food insecurity, and rural livelihoods. The inspection brought together beneficiary farmers, local leaders, technical officers, and implementing stakeholders. Its purpose was straightforward but consequential. The Principal Secretary assessed the status of ongoing rehabilitation works, reviewed progress against project objectives, and listened directly to community feedback on how the project is reshaping agricultural production and household incomes. In doing so, the visit reinforced a recurring theme in PS Kimotho’s approach to irri...

In the semi-arid heart of Kajiado County, where climate uncertainty has long shaped both livelihoods and limits, the Nguruman Irrigation Scheme is quietly redefining how Kenya thinks about adaptation, food security, and rural development. Along the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro River , a project once viewed as a local intervention is increasingly being read as a national policy statement: that irrigation, when designed as climate infrastructure rather than emergency relief, can anchor resilience in some of the country’s most vulnerable landscapes. For decades, Nguruman has lived with contradiction. Fertile soils and year-round sunlight offered promise, yet the same river that sustained agriculture repeatedly erased it. Seasonal floods washed away crops and homesteads, while prolonged dry spells left farmers exposed to the volatility of rain-fed agriculture. The result was a cycle of loss that discouraged investment and locked households into subsistence production. The current phase o...