Date Posted: 6/16/2012 12:46:12 PM
Posted By: Bony maurice Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 214
Irrigation has taken a wider step in improving farming in Kenya. Kenya is not equally distributed with fertile lands and hence the government has put in efforts to reclaim such lands. With arid and semi arid lands present, some lands have to be irrigated to be productive. This has been a move that has really boosted the level of agriculture in the less endowed areas. Irrigation schemes like Tebere, Perkerra, Bunyala etc have turned useless land to useful through reclamation. Some of the lands were barren, dry, waterlogged but are then put under productive agriculture. When the environmental hazards like floods are controlled, the land is then able to be farmed on. The Bunyala area that's always prone to flooding now grows rice under controlled watering of farms. The irrigation schemes therefore helps in making foods like maize, rice, fruits, vegetables etc. available. The quantity of food harvested becomes more. The standards of living are improved when the population is well fed. The farmers can sell some of their products and hence generate income for their uses. The nation as a whole saves on foreign exchange in terms of the money they would have spent to import some of those foodstuffs. For instance, the irrigation schemes in Kenya have led to enough production of rice that can feed a large portion of the population. Setting up of irrigation has created employment. Most of the activities in the schemes are labour intensive. Workers are needed for planting, weeding, irrigation and harvesting hence the people available get a place to earn their daily livelihood. The problem of unemployment is curbed to some degree. Infrastructure is developed for transport of inputs, outputs and workers. Roads, railway, health centres, schools etc are built to promote the irrigation activities.
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