GALANA KULALU FOOD SECURITY PROJECT
Principal Secretary State Department for Irrigation CPA Ephantus Kimotho CBS has this week hosted a team from Al Dahra led by their CEO Mr Arnoud Van Den Berg. The team are on official trip to Kenya mainly due to their interest in investing over USD 800 million that will put over 200,000 acres of Galana Kulalu under irrigated farming upon completion of Galana Dam.
This afternoon in the presence of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya Dr William Ruto CGH, Cabinet Secretary for Water Sanitation and Irrigation Eng Eric Mugaa; Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock development and Al Dahra Group has signed an MOU that will allow the private parties conduct feasibility studies with intention to put Galana Kulalu under irrigated food production in 200,000 acres.
Galana Kulalu Food Security project is being implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework in line with a Presidential Directive. The project has three parts comprising of production on 20,000 acres, construction of 300MCM Galana dam plus connecting canals and development of 200,000 acres within the Galana Kulalu ranch.
The ambitious project aims at catalyzing private capital into the irrigation space for large commercial farming to enhance food security, reduction of food imports and increasing exports as espoused in the Kenya government priorities in the Vision 2030, Medium Term Plan IV 2023-2027 and Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
To date, the project has two private parties interested in farming Selu Ltd (20,000 acres) and Al-Dhara Group (180,000 acres) in Galana Kulalu. Al-Dahra is a prominent multinational leader in agribusiness with over four hundred thousand acres of agricultural land in Egypt, Romania, Serbia, USA specialized in cultivation, production and trading nearly 3 million tons of essential food commodities and up to 3 million tons of animal feed. They services a large customer base from the commercial enterprises to government agencies and has a widespread geographical footprint, operating in over 20 countries and catering to more than 40 markets with a leading position in Africa, Europe and Middle East.
His Excellency The President has committed to support parties to unlock the 200,000 acres to enhance food security for the country inline with Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda.
The signing ceremony for the MOU was witnessed by officers from the State Department for Irrigation, State Department for Agriculture, National Irrigation Authority, Agriculture Development Corporation, Economic Council, Al Dahra, Selu Limited, BEA associates among others