{"id":125071,"date":"2025-11-20T15:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/11\/20\/ruto-promises-50-mega-dams-thousands-of-micro-dams-to-cut-sh500bn-food-import-bill\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T15:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:05:09","slug":"ruto-promises-50-mega-dams-thousands-of-micro-dams-to-cut-sh500bn-food-import-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ruto-promises-50-mega-dams-thousands-of-micro-dams-to-cut-sh500bn-food-import-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto promises 50 mega dams, thousands of micro-dams to cut Sh500bn food import bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 20 \u2014 President William Ruto on Thursday unveiled an ambitious irrigation plan that will see the construction of 50 mega dams, 200 medium and small dams, and thousands of micro-dams, aimed at ending Kenya\u2019s reliance on rain-fed agriculture.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking during his the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday, Ruto described the country\u2019s food insecurity as a self-inflicted limitation caused by underinvestment in water storage, despite Kenya\u2019s abundant natural resources. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot continue to be a nation that imports food worth Sh500 billion every year while 85 percent of our land waits for water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ruto emphasized that the country must break the cycle where the presence or absence of clouds determines whether Kenyans eat, insisting that water harvesting, storage, and distribution are the only sustainable paths to food security. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the land. We have the rainfall. What we lack is the infrastructure to capture it. Once we store and channel this water, the so-called arid and semi-arid lands will become Kenya\u2019s new food baskets,\u201d he told lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p>The government targets to bring 2.5 million acres under irrigation within seven years, with key projects already identified, including High Grand Falls in Mandera, the Isiolo\u2013Barsalinga Dam, Yatta Dam in Machakos, Soin Koru in Kisumu, Rumuruti Dam in Laikipia, Thuci Dam on the Embu\u2013Tharaka Nithi border, Lowaat in Turkana, Muhoya on the Nyeri\u2013Kirinyaga border, and several others in Kiambu, Kilifi, Homa Bay, and Bungoma.<\/p>\n<p>Ruto said the transition to irrigation will not only secure the country\u2019s food supply but also support the manufacturing agenda by ensuring steady raw materials for Special Economic Zones, Export Processing Zones, and County Aggregation and Industrial Parks. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is how Kenya becomes a net exporter of food. This is how we build rural prosperity and protect our economy from global shocks,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 20 \u2014 President William Ruto on Thursday unveiled an ambitious irrigation plan that will see the construction of 50 mega dams, 200 medium and small dams, and thousands of micro-dams, aimed at ending Kenya\u2019s reliance on rain-fed agriculture. Speaking during his the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday, Ruto described the country\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}