- Its the largest irrigation scheme in East Africa.
- Water is got from River Thiba, River Nyamindi and River Tana.
Aims of the scheme
- To provide employment to the political detainees.
- To resettle the land less people.
- To produce rice and other food crops on large scale.
- To develop the area of North East Kenya.
Conditions that have favored the location of the Mwea-Tebere project
- Availability of permanent water sources e.g. River Nyamindi, Thiba and Tana to provide water for irrigation.
- The gently sloping landscape i.e. the piedmont plain on the lower slopes of mountain Kenya allowing irrigation by gravity flow.
- The presence of fertile black volcanic soils for cotton and red clay soils which support rice growing.
- Availability of extensive tracts of land which was sparsely populated hence providing free land for the project.
- The area receives low and unreliable rainfall of 750mm per annum which favors irrigation.
- Supportive government policy of setting up irrigation schemes to develop remote areas of Mwea-Tebere.
- Availability of adequate capital for investment e.g. to purchase farm inputs and tools to be used for farming.
- Availability of ready market both local and international for the farm produce.
- Availability of well developed transport lines e.g. Nairobi-Nyeri railway line for delivering rice to markets.
- Presence of landless people who were ready to be recruited and provide cheap labour to work on the scheme.
Benefits of MweaTebere irrigation scheme
- Source of food especially rice for human consumption.
- Provided employment opportunities to the farmers hence improving their standards of living.
- The project has helped to re-settle people who were formally landless.
- The project has led to improvement in the infrastructure e.g. roads which has improved transport in the area.
- Flooding of the rivers has been controlled hence improving the safety of lives of the people around.
- Its a source of government revenue through taxes used to develop infrastructures e.g. roads.
- It has led to improvement in research hence resulting into high crop yielding varieties.
- The project led to effective utilization of the land which could have remained idle hence reducing resource wastage.
- It has led to development of processing industries which have led to urbanisation e.g. the rice mill at Mwea-Tebere.
- Infrastructural development has led to urbanisation e.g. Thiba and Embu towns.
- It has led to large scale output hence encouraging exports leading to acquisition of foreign exchange by government.
Problems faced by farmers on the scheme
- Pests which destroy stored crops leading to losses e.g. rice weevils.
- Diseases also destroy crops leading to low output e.g. rice blast and rice rust.
- Price fluctuations due to over production which discourage the farmers from further production.
- Weather changes which affect the output e.g. cool temperatures and heavy storms which destroy the crops.
- Reduction in soil fertility due to monoculture leading to low output.
- Weeds which compete with crops for soil nutrients leading to low quality output.
- Limited capital for further investment which also leads to reduced output.
- Soil salination due to high evaporation rates in the area leading to low output.
- Inadequate labour force especially during the harvesting period which brings activities to a standstill.
- Silting of canals which cause floods leading to destruction of farmlands.
Steps being taken to solve the problems
- Spraying of crops by using pesticides to avoid pests and diseases.
- Price control by government and production by quota system to avoid price fluctuation at the world market.
- Research on better rice varieties to increase production and quality.
- Applying fertilizers and manure to increase soil fertility and ensure high productivity.
- Use of herbicides to control weeds and reduce competition for soil nutrients.
- Weather studies are emphasized to reduce effects of weather destruction.
- Diversification of agriculture to reduce over reliance on rice growing e.g. introduction of cotton and peas.
- Encouraging mechanization to solve the problem of labour shortage especially during harvesting.
- Acquiring loans from banks to provide large capital base for farm operations.
- De-silting and dredging of canals to control floods and ensure proper flow of water.