What FY 2026/27 Irrigation Budget Means for Food Security

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 to rainfall patterns. That model is now under sustained pressure. During the session, the Cabinet Secretary for Water, Sanitation and Irrigation emphasized that climate variability has made rain-fed agriculture increasingly unreliable in meeting national food security needs. Extended drought cycles, erratic precipitation, and flooding events have collectively eroded predictability in production.

In this context, irrigation expansion is being framed not merely as infrastructure development but as a climate adaptation strategy. Stabilizing production through controlled water access ensures year-round cultivation, reduces vulnerability to weather shocks, and safeguards household incomes. The strategic logic is clear: food security in a climate-constrained era requires water security.

The FY 2026/27 BPS therefore situates irrigation infrastructure as a long-term buffer against agricultural volatility. This reflects a shift from reactive drought responses toward proactive resilience planning.

Scaling Irrigated Acreage and Storage Capacity

At the core of the Department’s targets is a bold expansion agenda. The State Department aims to increase land under irrigation by 1.5 million acres in the coming fiscal cycle. This represents not incremental growth, but accelerated scaling aligned with the broader objectives of agricultural transformation and import substitution.

Complementing this acreage expansion is the ambition to grow water harvesting and storage capacity by 12.4 billion cubic metres. Water storage remains the foundational constraint in Kenya’s irrigation equation. Without sufficient reservoir capacity, downstream schemes cannot operate at full potential, and seasonal variability continues to undermine productivity.

The emphasis on storage infrastructure signals recognition that irrigation development must be anchored in hydrological sustainability. It also reflects lessons drawn from previous project cycles, where conveyance infrastructure outpaced storage capacity, limiting system efficiency.

Rice Intensification and Import Substitution

A central element of the strategy is the Government’s Rice Intensification Programme. Kenya’s rice consumption continues to outstrip domestic production, necessitating significant imports that strain foreign exchange reserves. Raising national paddy rice production to 700,000 metric tons is therefore both an agricultural and macroeconomic objective.

Modernization and expansion of key irrigation schemes, including Mwea, Bura, Ahero, Turkana and Lower Kuja, are expected to drive this output growth. These schemes collectively represent the backbone of Kenya’s irrigated rice production ecosystem. Their rehabilitation and scaling are projected to enhance productivity per acre while expanding total cultivated area.

Rice intensification also dovetails with the broader irrigation expansion framework. Controlled water supply enables multiple cropping cycles, improved seed varieties, and better input utilization. The result is higher yields and greater production stability, strengthening national food buffers.

Rehabilitation, Community Irrigation and Inclusive Growth

Beyond flagship schemes, the Department has committed to rehabilitating 10,000 acres of existing irrigation infrastructure. Rehabilitation often delivers faster returns than new construction, as it restores productivity in underperforming systems while minimizing additional capital expenditure.

Equally significant is the continued expansion of community and farmer-led irrigation initiatives. These decentralized models empower farmers as direct investors and operators in irrigation systems. By improving productivity at the grassroots level, they increase household incomes and foster local ownership of water assets.

This dual approach, large-scale infrastructure coupled with localized farmer-led systems, suggests a diversified irrigation strategy designed to balance scale with inclusivity.

Water Infrastructure as Economic Infrastructure

A defining feature of the FY 2026/27 framework is its emphasis on strategic water infrastructure. Government plans to construct 20 irrigation dams signal a major investment wave in storage and conveyance systems. These dams are expected to enhance drought resilience while unlocking new command areas for cultivation.

Completion of the stands out as a catalytic milestone. Once operational, it is projected to unlock approximately 180,000 acres downstream under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework within the . This model integrates public infrastructure investment with private sector participation, aligning risk-sharing with productivity targets.

Mega dams, when effectively integrated into irrigation networks, can transform regional economies. Beyond crop production, they stimulate agro-processing, logistics, input supply chains, and rural employment. Water infrastructure thus becomes economic infrastructure, driving multiplier effects across sectors.

Schools as Nodes of Resilience

An innovative dimension of the Department’s programme is the plan to equip 2,486 public schools with boreholes, greenhouses and micro-irrigation systems. While modest in scale compared to mega-dam projects, this intervention carries strategic significance.

School-based irrigation systems serve multiple functions: supporting school feeding programmes, providing agricultural learning platforms, and enhancing community resilience during drought periods. They embed irrigation knowledge at an early stage, cultivating a generation familiar with climate-smart agriculture.

This integration of education and water infrastructure reflects a broader understanding that resilience must be institutional as well as infrastructural.

Financing Gaps and Parliamentary Partnership

Despite the ambitious targets, fiscal constraints remain a central challenge. The Cabinet Secretary underscored the need for additional resources to narrow the financing gap and prevent stalling of ongoing projects. Large-scale irrigation infrastructure is capital-intensive, with long gestation periods before full economic returns are realized.

Parliamentary support is therefore critical. Budget allocations, external financing agreements, and PPP frameworks must align to sustain project momentum. Delays in funding not only escalate costs but also erode stakeholder confidence.

The appearance before the Committee was thus both a reporting exercise and a strategic engagement aimed at consolidating legislative backing. Effective irrigation transformation requires synchronized policy, fiscal and institutional commitment.

Irrigation as a National Growth Lever

The overarching narrative emerging from the Budget Policy Statement is that irrigation is being repositioned as a driver of long-term economic growth. Expanded irrigated acreage translates into higher agricultural output, increased farmer incomes, and stronger rural economies. It reduces dependency on food imports, stabilizes market prices, and enhances national food sovereignty.

Employment generation forms another pillar of this growth thesis. Construction of dams, modernization of schemes, and expansion of irrigation networks create direct jobs, while downstream agro-processing and value addition create indirect employment opportunities.

Climate resilience, meanwhile, reduces the fiscal burden associated with emergency drought response, enabling more predictable economic planning.

Strategic Continuity and Institutional Momentum

The presentation to Parliament signals continuity in irrigation policy while accelerating its scale. Targets for acreage expansion, storage capacity, and rice production demonstrate measurable ambition. Infrastructure modernization, dam construction, and PPP integration indicate institutional maturity in project design.

The forward-looking tone also reflects a recognition that irrigation development must move in tandem with market access, value chains and agronomic support systems. Infrastructure alone cannot guarantee productivity gains; it must operate within a coordinated agricultural ecosystem.

As the State Department advances into FY 2026/27, the emphasis remains clear: water control is agricultural control. In a climate-disrupted era, expanding irrigation is not simply about boosting yields, it is about stabilizing livelihoods, safeguarding food systems, and anchoring economic resilience.

The Committee engagement therefore marks more than a procedural budget presentation. It underscores irrigation’s centrality in Kenya’s development calculus and reaffirms the Government’s intent to position controlled water access as the engine of food security and long-term growth.

Article by Victor Patience Oyuko. To buy coffee Mpesa 0708883777