Kenya's Turkana Identifies 28 Irrigation and Water Project Sites

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Turkana County, Kenya, has completed the screening of drought-resilience project sites, selecting 28 locations from 135 candidates identified in preliminary assessments as new sites for water, irrigation, and livestock infrastructure development, with a total investment of approximately KES 600 million. The projects are part of Kenya's Northern Kenya Drought Resilience Program, focusing on enhancing agricultural irrigation, water supply, and livestock production support in arid regions.

The 28 project sites are distributed across four implementation zones in Turkana. Site locations were selected by the county-level project coordination agency based on engineering feasibility, population coverage, regional distribution, community needs, and available funding. The narrowing of the original 135 demand points to an implementable project list means that the relevant construction has moved from needs identification into the specific engineering preparation stage.

This round of investment focuses on agricultural irrigation systems, water source development, and livestock water infrastructure. Turkana has long been affected by cyclical droughts and flash floods, and unstable water sources directly constrain crop cultivation areas and livestock production capacity. Through the addition of irrigation facilities and water supply works, the projects will expand the available water volume for agricultural production areas and enhance the ability of pastoral areas to maintain livestock water supply during dry seasons.

Project implementation will target mixed crop-livestock farming and dryland agricultural production scenarios. Subsequent engineering work is expected to focus on water intake, conveyance, storage, and irrigation infrastructure, as well as water facilities related to livestock watering. With the 28 sites now formally determined, the next phase of the project will enter specific engineering design, procurement, and on-site construction arrangements, creating new procurement demand for irrigation pipe networks, water pumps, water storage facilities, and other agricultural water infrastructure equipment.