At least 200 homes in Karaba ward, Laikipia West Sub County are set to benefit from the Sh16 million Ndathimi Dam water project.
During the dam’s commissioning, Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi stated that the goal of the rehabilitation of the dam was to ensure that farmers in the area used drip irrigation technology to ensure they produced enough food for consumption and sold the surplus.
Additionally, residents were educated on how to use the water project to their advantage.
“The money we are using through Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) is concessional money from the World Bank so that we can use it here to be able to boost farming by our people. Our aim through this project is to ensure that Laikipia is food secure and at the same time our people are eating a balanced diet,” said Muriithi.
The Governor stressed that the project had been entirely passed to the community and urged them to maintain it so that they would profit fully from it.
In the Laikipia county water master plan, he said, there are plans to repair 231 dams and water pans over the course of the following five years.
Muriithi stated that in lieu of relying solely on donor funds, they were searching for innovative finance options.
County Climate Smart Agriculture Project Coordinator Muriuki Kiboi stated that their goal is to boost productivity through the use of smart agriculture technologies.
“Our main objective is to ensure farmers in this region get maximum productivity results from the dam, build resilience to small scale farmers and at the same time reduce greenhouse gases. We have seven dam projects and Ndathimi in Karaba area we aim at improving the farming projects that farmers undertake to help in food production and empower the farmers,” said Kiboi.
According to Kiboi, the major objective for the Ndathimi dam project at the time it was started in 2019 was to desilt the dam and construct the walls and spillways for water when the dam is full.
He continued by saying that since solar energy is climate-smart, there is no harm to the environment because they are using it.
The KCSAP is the vehicle through which the World Bank-sponsored project is carried out.
By the initial phase of irrigation, the Ndathimi water project through KCSAP has already irrigated 30 acres of horticulture crops.
The desilting and irrigation system has so far cost Sh16 million, according to the KCSAP coordinator.
They further distributed 3.8 tonnes of beans, 2000 mango seedlings, 4000 avocado seedlings, and beekeeping to the farmers prior to the programs, which are some of the additional value chains of these initiatives.