Ruto commission Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga county
President William Ruto has officially commissioned the discharge of water from the newly constructed Thiba Dam to rice farms in Kirinyaga county.
Ruto urged every Kenyan to plant at least 100 trees stating that it was the surest way to climate change mitigation.
“As a country, we have made a policy change decision that we must plant at least 5 billion trees. Every Kenyan must plant at least 100 trees. Either in your compound, in your farm or in any other place you find,” Ruto said.
According to Ruto, climate change has caused the current drought which is the worst in 40 years.
He also said that the government will put an extra 200,000 acres across all the ten rice growing counties under irrigation to boost rice production to help minimise rice importation, enhance food security and help increase profitability for farmers.
“We import 900,000 tons yet we have 200,000 acres of land that can be resourceful if brought under rice cultivation and help boost the production, profitability for our farmers and enhance food security,” he said.
He also said that by December, the government will have made sufficient subsidised fertiliser to support the continuous quality and quantity rice production.
The flow of water from the reservoir into the Thiba river is intended to ensure a steady supply of water for the Mwea rice irrigation scheme throughout the year.
The Sh7.8 billion dam has a capacity of 15.6 million cubic meters and is expected to save 30,060 acres of the Mwea irrigation network as well as flood an extra 10,000 acres for rice farming.
Its construction started two years ago and ended in June and was reported to be at full capacity by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) in September.
