Background
Kenya is depending on agriculture as 80% of the population lives in rural areas and the agricultural sector contributes 26% to the GDP. The country is facing a deepening poverty and food insecurity in around 50% of the households. The water availability in Kenya is scarce and in some areas the competition for water resources results in violent conflicts.
Irrigation plays an important role in increasing food security and in bringing income to the farmers. As Kenya is divided into different agro-ecological zones, different farming areas ranging from high to medium potential areas, arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) exist. The high potential areas in the central region north of Nairobi[1] are characterized by high rainfall, permanent river flows, and fertile soils. Commercial farming in that area is dominant. The use of low-cost small-scale irrigation technology is relatively widespread, and (financial) infrastructure and access to markets are relatively good developed In the medium and low potential areas low-cost small-scale irrigation technologies rarely exists, amongst others due to lack of irrigated areas and access to financial services.
Financial services are rarely available for poor smallholder famers[2], as most of the financial institutions concentrate on financing input for crop production, lack of experience with small-scale farmers, and products are not adapted to requirements of small-scale farmers. On the other hand, smallholder farmers lack knowledge about financial institutions and available products, and are often biased towards them. However, financial services are available and the financial sector is one of the most developed and diversified in Sub-Saharan Africa. (GIZ, 2006).
Governmental irrigation development programs
The first irrigation development projects were undertaken in the colonial era with the establishment of larges schemes with the objective to settle landless population. Small-scale irrigation[1] was put into focus in the 1970s. Water user groups or Water User Associations (WUA) were established for organizing these schemes. Supporting governmental entities are the Irrigation and Drainage Branch (IDB) of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Rural Development Authorities (RDA). In the late 1980s the private sector started involving in horticultural marketing and exports with participation of small-scale farmers and was rapidly growing (Neubert et.al, 2007).
The governmental irrigation development programs are mainly focusing on small-scale farmers without excess to irrigation water. In the past the farmers were supported through “full initial investment” which nowadays was turned into a cost-sharing mechanism between the beneficiaries (GIZ, 2006).
[1] Farmers mostly own the land and irrigated an area of 20 to 200ha.
