Kenya to stop importing maize with Galana Kulalu success

Kenya will stop importing maize once the Galana Kulalu maize farm project is scaled up to 100,000 acres, Water and Irrigation Principle Secretary Prof James Sigor has said.

Speaking to the press while on an inspection tour of the project, PS Sigor said the progress of the project was impressive.

He expressed optimism that the perennial maize scarcity problem in Kenya will be solved once the project is scaled up to 100,000 thousand acres or more.

Prof Sigor revealed that in a period of six to eight years, the country would have broken even, adding that it is a highly profitable and realistic project with the potential of turning the country into Africa’s food basket.

At the beginning of this month, Devolution CS Mwangi Kiunjuri said six counties in the coastal region would benefit from 62,000 bags of maize harvested from the Galana Kulalu irrigation project.

Speaking during the handover ceremony, CS Kiunjuri said the harvest would go towards feeding locals facing starvation.

This being the third harvest at the Galana Kulalu food security project, the project has been given thumbs up after achieving an average harvest of 31 bags of maize per acre.

The project had earlier been criticized for being a non-starter despite the billions spent to realize it, with the second crop performing dismally due to the El-Nino rains.

The project’s target is 40 bags per acre.