Farming in Northern Kenya using irrigation is possible but comes with high costs that can make the produce expensive, according to Juma Mukhwana, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Industry.
Speaking during an interview with Radio Generation, Mukhwana said irrigation can boost crop production even in arid regions, but only if the market can absorb the higher prices of irrigated crops.
"I'm an agriculturalist myself, and so I know that, yes, it's possible to produce in that region with irrigation. But two issues, one is that irrigation is quite expensive. Two, if you produce crops using irrigation? Yes, the cost goes up," Mukhwana said on Wednesday.
He explained that crops grown under irrigation are generally about one and a half times more costly than those produced through traditional rainfall methods.
PS Mukhwana emphasized that successful irrigation requires considering both market demand and crop selection.
"That's why for us, if you look around Kenya, where we are using irrigation, we are producing crops for export," he said. He cited Kenya’s flower and horticulture sectors in Naivasha and Kiambu as examples where irrigation has boosted high-value exports.
However, the PS warned that irrigation might not be practical for small-scale farming in northern counties like Garissa and Mandera due to extreme temperatures, saline soils, and limited rainfall.
“Not every crop will do well, but we have crops that will do well in high salt conditions, like dates, some varieties of sorghum,” Mukhwana explained. He noted that even maize can be grown with irrigation, but it would still be costly under such challenging conditions.
The PS highlighted large-scale projects like Galana Kulalu as examples where irrigation could be more feasible.
“The difference with Galana Kulalu, why irrigation may work is one, the water is cheap, because there's a big river there, and the scale is large. So if you do it completely large scale, then you are able to ameliorate the added cost,” he said.
Mukhwana stressed that small farms of a few acres cannot compete with large-scale operations in terms of cost efficiency.
Ultimately, he said, the key question for irrigation is profitability: “If you're producing under irrigation, yes, you're producing for whom, and that person must be willing to pay the extra cost of irrigating. In other words, irrigation works very well in economies where people can afford to buy food a little bit more expensive.”
