Government to open up idle land for investment by private sector

A woman prepares food in one of the arid and semi-arid areas in Kenya / FILE

The government has announced plans to open up idle land to the private sector in the latest bid to enhance food security in the country.

Irrigation Secretary Joel Tanui on Tuesday said the government will be promoting the utilisation of idle land by opening it up to private investors for agricultural development.

"Over the years, the government has been holding quite a lot of land," he said.

"If you go to the coastal belt, cutting across the Tana River, we have more than two million acres, which have been lying idle for a long time." 

Tanui said the move is meant to ensure that available land is fully utilised for production to strengthen national food security.

He said the private sector will be able to develop irrigation and carry out agricultural production in the parcels of land provided.

Tanui said all the available parcels are going to be advertised soon under an initiative known as land commercialisation.

The secretary was presiding over the launch of the Global Hunger Index report 2025.

The report showed that the fight against hunger in the country had stalled since 2016.

It showed that 3.7 million Kenyans face acute food shortages.

The report ranks Kenya 103rd with an index score of 25.9 out of 123 countries ranked. Kenya has been listed among countries with a rising number of undernourished people.

The report ‘Global Hunger Index 2025: 20 years of tracking progress: Time to recommit to zero hunger’ is a publication by Welt Hunger Hilfe, Concern Worldwide and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.

The report calls for the building of resilient food systems by enhancing allocation to agriculture.

Tanui said irrigation schemes in the country will also be enhanced to produce more food. He said under the national irrigation sector investment plan, some Sh 519 billion will be invested.

Tanui said the private sector will help in unlocking the funds needed.

He said the more than 2,500 irrigation schemes will be revamped to improve food production.

Tanui said arid and semi-arid areas, which make up 80 per cent of the country's landmass, will also be opened up, adding that 3,000 acres in Mandera under the Daua Irrigation cluster will be developed.

The secretary said the equipment that farmers are using to irrigate their farms will also be improved.

Tanui said the government is establishing a de-risking fund to support farmers, enabling them to increase productivity and increase their earnings.

He said 50 megadams are being constructed to bring more than 2.5 million acres under irrigation.