March 18, 2010

Kenya to spend US$56 million on crop irrigation systems

Kenya plans to spend 4.3 billion shillings (US$56 million) over the next five years building irrigation systems and helping the country's 5 million smallholder farmers market higher-value crops.

The agricultural goods produced account for 65% of the country's exports, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said.

The government wants to accelerate the industry's growth to 7% over the next two decades to help stop the spread of hunger, Agriculture Minister William Ruto said, addressing a conference today in Nairobi.

The government said last year that poor crop production after successive seasons of failed rains had put one in four Kenyans at risk of food shortages.

The situation was aggravated by two months of deadly violence triggered by a disputed election in December 2007 that prevented farmers from tending their fields, and the high cost of inputs like fertiliser, said Ruto.

Earlier, the International Monetary Fund raised its economic growth forecast for Kenya to at least 4% in 2010 after rains from late last year improved the outlook for agriculture.

The Washington-based fund had on March 7 predicted growth in Kenya would accelerate to 3% this year from 2% in 2009.