Once forgotten, Tana is now targeted by investors

Tana River has been a largely marginalised, hostile and forgotten region.

For decades, the only time it appeared in the news was when its feuding communities were at each other’s throats over water and grass for their animals and crops.

Or when they were swept out of their homes by the mighty Tana’s flood waters. But not any more.

The county is now in the limelight with reports of its vast lands being the target of big corporations and foreign governments who want to exploit them commercially.

This is part of a recent trend in which rich countries in the West and Asia are increasingly looking to Africa to produce food for their growing populations. 

In a report released recently, the US-based Oakland Institute, says up to 60 million acres of land in Africa, the size of France, have already been leased out.

In Ethiopia, China and Saudi Arabia want to grow  a million tonnes of rice a year on land in the western region of Gambella.

Many critics have described these leases as ‘land grabs’,  adding they  pose a threat to Africans as they will have nowhere to grow their own food and graze their herds.

But the leases also have powerful backers, including government officials. In Ethiopia, for example, where three million acres have been leased out, the government says this constitutes only three per cent of its arable land.

The mega agriculture projects, the government says,  will employ locals and teach them farming skills. Additionally, the land leased out is not in use currently because it is unsuitable for smallholders.

Leading Kenyan academic Calestous Juma of Harvard University is a strong supporter of the leases, with a rider that they must be structured to benefit local people. 

He argues Africa should look at these projects as foreign direct investments. They will enable food production technology transfers so the continent can produce enough for its people.

Economic growth

Prof Juma, who teaches at Harvard Kennedy School, argues in his recent book, The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa, that nearly 60 per cent of the world’s available arable land is in Africa.

The resource, he says, should be used to leverage the much-needed technology and finance to help to stimulate economic growth in general and rural development in particular.

Much of this land is currently not in use.  Ethiopia, for example, has more than 74 million hectares of cultivable land; so far only 15 million is cultivated.

Bringing three million hectares of land into cultivation in the coming four years is a modest step in the country’s effort to foster economic transformation and does not represent misguided land allocation.

In Tana River County, supporters of the lease, including the county leaders, are using the same argument — the targeted land is idle yet it could easily be made productive.

Mumias Sugar was the first big corporation to seek land in Tana River. Kenya’s leading sugar producer, based in Kakamega, asked for 18,000 hectares to grow cane in a project worth Sh24 billion.

However, this project has been shrouded in controversy with pastoral groups and environmentalists opposing it. The groups argue that the project would spell doom for the region and its inhabitants.

The groups, including Nature Kenya, instead want the Government to designate the area, which they claim harbours more than 350 bird species, wildlife and plants, as a national conservation site.

Another private company MATT International also showed an interest in converting about 100,000 hectares of land in both Lamu and Tana River to cane plantation. 

Then there was the Qatari government which asked for 100,000 hectares for agricultural use in exchange for funding the Lamu Port.  However, the plan was dropped after furious opposition from locals and NGOs.

The interest all these investors have shown has helped sell Tana River as a prime region  that can produce food both for local consumption and exports.

Indeed, it is a key plank in the Kenya Government’s 2009-2011 Economic Stimulus Programme and Vision 2030.

The stimulus package is designed to increase production of maize and rice and to stabilise the country’s strategic grain reserve.

The area comprises the largest swathe of the Tana River basin with vast flat lands and a soil rich in nutrients, suitable for a wide range of food crops.

The region’s agricultural potential had already been highlighted many years back through the irrigation projects at Bura and Hola and the Tana Delta Irrigation Project.

But it is the Tana Delta Irrigation Project run by Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority at Gamba that has changed the face of food production in the region and thrust Tana River into the limelight as one of the country’s top bread baskets.

Tana Delta Irrigation Project (TDIP) will eventually be one of the biggest in the country producing food for export and local consumption.

As the host of these key projects, Tana River will therefore not just have an opportunity to enjoy food security for its population but for the country as a whole.

According to Mr Philip Oloo, the TDIP manager, the entire land available for food production is 200,000 hectares.

TARDA is not just focusing on harnessing the Tana for food production. It is also working on power-generation —High Grand Falls Multi-Purpose Dam Project — that will augment the current power supply for Kenya.

Those hoping to grow crops for bio-fuels have not been left behind. A Canadian firm is seeking 100,000 hectares to grow the shrub jatropha to make bio-fuel.

Its prospects look good after the local administration and council gave the go-ahead.

The first phase of the project would be implemented on 10,000 hectares in one of the six ranches leased by Bedford Bio Fuels at a cost of Sh1.4 billion for 45 years. 

But conservationists have warned that the project could affect livestock and that the soils had not been tested to prove they were suitable for jatropha farming.

The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) director of compliance, Mr Benjamin Langwen, said the investor had met the initial requirements and had been given a licence for the 10,000 hectares for a pilot project.

Mr John Mitchell, Bedford Biofuels general manager for Kenya, said the firm had leased six ranches — Idasa Godana, Giritu, Haganda, Kibusu, Kitangale and Kondertu — an estimated 64,000 hectares .

The company, he said, would spend Sh270 million in the first four years to support development in the area to benefit both the ranch owners and locals, which would include 9,000 hectares for as eco-tourism, bee-keeping, roads, hospitals and conservation.

Prof Juma of Harvard University said critics were right to demand greater transparency, ethical practices and improved performance standards.

But they were wrong to demonise all the deals as “land grabs” without offering better alternatives on how Africa could meet the needs of its growing population.

To call for a blanket moratorium on investment, he wrote in the Daily Nation recently, was tantamount to asking Africa to commit economic suicide.

And Africa was too smart to do that, he said.  The people of Tana River hope they can drink to that.