Murang’a: Land degradation in Kenya has escalated significantly, rising from 12 percent in 1990 to 28.3 percent of the total land by 2012. This degradation results in an estimated annual economic loss of Sh 180 billion, approximately five percent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In response, the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, through its State Department for Irrigation, has been developing a policy to address this pressing issue.

According to Kenya News Agency, Ian Thandi, the Director of Climate Change Resilience for Food and Water Security at the Ministry, stated that the proposed Land Reclamation Bill aims to reclaim degraded land. Thandi highlighted the global challenge of land degradation, with over 20 percent of cultivated areas, 30 percent of forests, and 10 percent of grasslands experiencing degradation. This issue leads to a sustained loss of vegetation and landscape functions, increased aridity, food insecurity, and water scarcity, as well as the invasion of alien species like prosopis juliflora, known locally as ‘Mathenge’.

Thandi was speaking at a five-day workshop in Naivasha, where experts are refining the Draft Land Reclamation Bill, which has already undergone public participation. The workshop is expected to conclude on Friday, with the aim of addressing any remaining ambiguities in the Bill. Thandi stressed that land is a critical socio-economic resource with multifaceted uses essential to Kenya’s economic, social, and cultural development. However, population growth, economic development, and the rising demand for food and shelter have increased pressure on these resources, leading to further degradation.

The draft policy outlines a national framework to guide both national and county legislation, other governance structures, and stakeholders on recovering and restoring degraded lands. Thandi noted that while the government has engaged in land reclamation since the 1970s, efforts have been hampered by the absence of a cohesive policy or legal framework. Consequently, there has been a lack of a coordinated, inter-agency approach to land reclamation and degradation control.

The Draft Bill seeks to establish a regulatory mechanism to ensure standards and sustainable actions across the subsector. Its main objective is to facilitate the accelerated and sustainable reclamation of degraded lands, securing land degradation neutrality for food and water security, environmental sustainability, and socio-economic development. Moreover, the Bill aims to halt further degradation, restore affected lands, build capacity through research, and secure necessary resources for land reclamation activities.

Through this initiative, the government intends to increase the land available for irrigation and other uses, thereby improving food security and boosting the economy. Currently, 747,000 acres are under irrigation, with 83,000 acres developed in the last two years. The Kenyan Government, through the National Irrigation Sector Investment Plan (NISIP) launched last month, has funded 228,731 acres under irrigation across 44 counties. This includes 147,131 acres under smallholder/community irrigation projects and 80,600 acres from the rehabilitation and expansion of gazetted schemes.

The NISIP is a 10-year strategy designed to expand and modernize irrigation systems nationwide, aiming to boost agricultural productivity, enhance food security, and attract private investment into the irrigation sector. The plan targets increasing irrigation coverage from 22 percent to 50 percent, with a phased approach focusing on existing infrastructure in the initial years. By 2027, the government aims to expand the irrigated area from 711,993 acres to 1.2 million acres, reflecting a 68.5 percent increase. Kenya’s irrigation potential stands at 1.342 million hectares, yet only 120,503 hectares have been developed. The country’s reliance on rainwater for food production renders it vulnerable to weather variability and climate change.