Ruto’s plan to plant maize on 500,000 acres of idle public land
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Ruto's plan to plant maize on 500,000 acres of idle public land in addition to seeking more chunks of unutilized farms
Ruto’s plan to plant maize on 500,000 acres of idle public land in addition to seeking more chunks of unutilized farms.
In spite of the government’s efforts to lease out larger portions of idle farms to the private sector, the Ministry of Agriculture will provide funding to support the planting of maize on 500,000 acres of idle land owned by key State corporations.
According to PS: Agriculture, Harsama Kello, they have plotted out land that will be covered with crops that belongs to the Kenya Agriculture Livestock Research Organization, Kenya National Youth Service, Kenya Prisons, and the Agriculture Development Corporation.
Mr. Kello says arrangements have already been made for the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) to provide money to these state agencies so they can grow maize and lessen the yearly shortages.
“We have identified 500,000 acres that we are going to finance through AFC to enable these government agencies to put their idle land under food production,” he said.
This is the first time that the government has revealed it would use parastatals to grow more food on idle land.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government had passed a Cabinet resolution to lease the land to the private sector.
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The PS said they would still lease the land to private investors as well and private companies able to farm huge chunks of land.
Mr. Kello said the money to be loaned to these entities would be used to mechanize the farms and buy farming implements to ensure that huge chunks of land produce enough maize in the next two years.
He said the process to have these corporations utilize the idle land and leasing of the same to private investors had been started.
Mr. Kenyatta’s government approved the policy on large-scale commercialization of public land held for agricultural production.
The policy, which was adopted last May, seeks to provide a framework for the utilization of idle land owned by public institutions for large-scale commercial agricultural production.
Kenya is seeking a model where public land will be leased to private investors for food and cash crop production that relies less on rain-fed agriculture in favour of irrigation.
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