Uasin Gishu has the water: Why leaders must now turn the president’s irrigation call into food, wealth and opportunity

By Mr. Fredrick Kipchumba Chelimo – PWD

Email; fkipchelimo@yahoo.com

“Food security will not be achieved by waiting for the rains; it will be achieved when leadership turns every available drop of water into food, income and opportunity.”

Today, watching the national food security engagement, one thing attracted my attention. Not because it was strange or significantly large, but it is a question that has lingered in my mind for some time. Big dams have been constructed in Uasin Gishu, fertile farms are present, the farmers are skilled and determined and one thing looks prominently amiss. This is the linkage between the water in the dams and the farm. The President hit this point with clear precision: we should connect our dams with the farm

President William Ruto’s call for Kenya to move decisively from rain-fed agriculture towards irrigation-led production should not be treated as another national policy declaration to be applauded in speeches and forgotten when the political moment passes. For Uasin Gishu, it should be received as a direct invitation to action.

This county has the agricultural potential, the farmers, the land and, in various locations, water resources capable of supporting a more reliable and productive agricultural economy. What is urgently required is leadership willing to connect these assets into a functioning system. If Uasin Gishu gets this right, the reward will extend far beyond increased harvests. It could become a powerful pathway to household incomes, youth employment, agro-processing, stronger cooperatives and genuine economic empowerment. Done properly, it would also be a sure bet for food security and shared prosperity for the people of Uasin Gishu.

The central question, therefore, is no longer whether irrigation is desirable. It is whether local leadership is prepared to actualise the national call.

For too long, Kenya has sometimes celebrated infrastructure at the point of construction rather than at the point of impact. A dam is commissioned, photographs are taken, speeches are delivered and the project is recorded as an achievement. But for the farmer, the real test begins afterwards. Is water reaching the farm? Can farmers afford to use it? Is there an irrigation network? Is electricity or an alternative energy source available where pumping is required? Are farmers receiving technical advice? Is there a market for the additional produce? If the answer to these questions is no, then the infrastructure is not yet delivering its full economic promise.

This is precisely where Uasin Gishu’s leadership can make a difference. Instead of waiting for another national programme, county leaders, Members of Parliament, ward representatives, agricultural agencies, water institutions, farmer organisations and development partners should come together and map the county’s irrigation potential. Existing dams, water pans, rivers, reservoirs and other water-harvesting investments should be identified alongside the farms, cooperatives and agricultural value chains that could benefit from them.

The objective should be simple: identify where water exists, establish where productive agricultural land is located, determine what is preventing the connection between the two and mobilise resources to close that gap. Such an exercise would transform the irrigation debate from political rhetoric into a practical development programme.

Local leaders should be asking government agencies a straightforward question: What will it take to move water from existing reservoirs to farmers’ fields? If pipelines are missing, let them be prioritised. If distribution infrastructure is incomplete, let the gaps be costed. If pumping systems are required, let sustainable energy options be examined. If farmers need training, let extension services be aligned. If markets are the constraint, let production planning be connected to buyers and agro-processing. This is where political leadership becomes meaningful.

A Member of Parliament does not need to build a dam personally to make a difference. A county leader does not have to control every national agency. Leadership can mean convening the institutions that do, demanding timelines, mobilising resources, monitoring implementation and keeping the public informed.

Uasin Gishu’s leaders have an opportunity to turn the President’s irrigation message into a countywide agricultural mobilisation agenda. They can identify priority irrigation zones, bring farmers into the planning process, champion unfinished water projects and pursue partnerships with national government, development agencies, financial institutions and the private sector. The economic opportunity is enormous.

Reliable irrigation can allow farmers to produce beyond the traditional dependence on one rainy season. It can support vegetables, fodder, cereals and other higher-value crops while creating predictable supplies for processors and traders. More production means greater demand for transport, storage, agricultural inputs, machinery, packaging and financial services. Cooperatives can become stronger aggregation and marketing centres. Young people can find opportunities not merely as farm labourers but as irrigation technicians, agronomists, processors, entrepreneurs and service providers. And this transformation must deliberately include persons with disabilities.

Too often, inclusion is mentioned after development projects have already been designed. That must change. Persons with disabilities are part of Uasin Gishu’s agricultural economy. They own land, cultivate farms, participate in cooperatives and run enterprises. Irrigation projects should therefore incorporate accessibility from the beginning—from farm access and water points to training, information, financing and agricultural technologies. The objective should not be charity. It should be participation.

The same applies to women, young farmers and other groups whose productive potential is frequently constrained by limited access to resources. Irrigation provides an opportunity to broaden ownership of economic opportunity rather than simply increasing agricultural output. But none of this will happen through speeches alone.

Leaders should now move from congratulating the national government on its irrigation ambition to asking what they can practically do to support it. They should jointly establish measurable local targets: hectares to be brought under irrigation, farmers to be reached, water infrastructure to be completed, production to be increased and markets to be secured. Every project should have a clear beginning, a responsible institution, a budget, a completion date and a measurable outcome. That is how public investment acquires credibility.

Uasin Gishu should not wait until every national irrigation programme is designed elsewhere before determining its own priorities. The county should prepare itself, present its evidence and demand alignment. It should identify existing assets and unfinished projects, package viable proposals and place them before the national government and development partners.

This is the moment for local leadership to demonstrate that devolution is not simply about administering programmes handed down from Nairobi. It is also about identifying local opportunities and mobilising the partnerships necessary to unlock them. The President has provided the national direction. Uasin Gishu’s leaders now have an opportunity to provide the local drive.

If they succeed in connecting water to farms, farms to markets, markets to processors and farmers to economic opportunity, the impact will be measured not only in tonnes of food produced but in families whose incomes improve, young people who find livelihoods and communities that become more resilient. That is the real meaning of agricultural transformation.

Uasin Gishu should therefore not merely applaud the President’s irrigation call. It should act on it, align with it and make it work on the ground. Because the county already has much of what it needs: productive land, experienced farmers, agricultural institutions and water resources. What is missing is the determined leadership to connect these pieces.

The opportunity is staring us in the face. If Uasin Gishu’s leaders seize it now, irrigation could become one of the county’s strongest instruments for food security, employment and economic empowerment. As the President visits the County in readiness for the National Mashujaa Day, leaderships in Uasin Gishu should show support in words, action and measurable pledges when receiving the President

“The President has called for irrigation-led agriculture; Uasin Gishu’s answer should not be another speech—it should be water flowing into farms, food filling granaries, businesses growing and ordinary people earning more from the land beneath their feet.”

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