Kirinyaga rice farmers and business people have accused the National Irrigation Board of negligence and corruption, as thousands of them presented a petition to the County Assembly requesting it to intervene and mediate the crisis.
Speaking with Kenyans.co.ke on Wednesday, August, 26, Wamumu Member of County Assembly John Baptist Kanga affirmed that the petition had been forwarded to the Assembly with several farmers testifying against the NIB.
The farmers alleged that the board was unaccountable having failed to disclose how its books were balanced, owing to the annual contributions the farmers make.
"The farmers raised questions on how they are being mistreated yet they contribute Ksh 120 million annually from the rice projects. If broken down, that can be Ksh 3,000 per acre every year," Kanga stated.
Other issues raised by the businessmen were poor roads in the schemes and alleged torture by the Irrigation Water Users Association, chaired by Mr. Morris Mutugi.
IWUA manages schemes by ensuring that irrigation infrastructure and water for irrigation purposes meet approved quality standards including the use of recycled wastewater for irrigation.
Officials of IWUA reportedly terrorise the farmers by roughing them up, apprehending them arbitrarily and detaining them in jails located at their offices.
"The farmers stated that the officials extort them fines of up to Ksh 3,000 and they arrest hundreds of farmers. That means they make over Ksh 300,000 per day," Kanga added.
An official at NIB who spoke with Kenyans.co.ke played cagey with the issue and asked the farmers to explore all avenues, from the Assembly to the police and the NIB head offices to have their grievances addressed.
"Have they visited the head office and scheme offices, if not let them seek a relevant audience. I am not in the position to give any concrete responses," the official responded.
According to the Agricultural Council of Kenya, Kenya has not fully developed her irrigation potential estimated at 1.342 million hectares. The country has only developed approximately 180,503 hectares of irrigation which is about 13.5% of the potential. The land under irrigation accounts for 1.7 percent of total land area under agriculture and contributes about 3% to the gross domestic product (GDP).
Kenya’s irrigation sub-sector development has remained largely untapped despite immense potential. This is attributed to the many developmental constraints and challenges facing the sub-sector.
