Kirinyaga Senator James Kamau Murango, who is the chairman of Agriculture Committee in the Senate has blasted Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eric Muriithi’s decision to consider forming a task force to look into the snails and rats menace in the Mwea irrigation scheme.
Speaking in Gichugu on Sunday, Murango said Mwea rice farmers do not need a task force to fight snails and rats that have invaded the giant Mwea irrigation scheme as they already know what is destroying their crops.
“Mwea rice farmers want pesticides to kill the snails, forming a task force is swindling public funds,” Murango said.
Murango said the government should set aside funds to buy pesticides and traps to fight rats and snails instead of forming a task force.
“A task force will take time yet we have a solution in the scheme as snails were reported in the Mwea irrigation scheme since 2019,” he said.
On November 25, while touring Mwea irrigation scheme in Kirinyaga CS Muriithi said the government is going to form a multi-industrial task force to deal with rats and golden snails that have invaded rice fields at the Mwea irrigation scheme in Kirinyaga County.
Murango advised the Cabinet Secretary to address the deplorable state of roads in the scheme instead of forming a task force.
“Mwea rice scheme roads are impassable and it has made it difficult for rice farmers to transport rice. This harvesting season, transporting one bag of rice from the rice paddy to the main road is Ksh.1000,” Murango said.
Residents of Mwea irrigation scheme are accusing the Government of abandoning them as they have been complaining over the poor road condition.
‘The last time these farm roads were constructed was during late president Mwai Kibaki’s tenure with a fund that was known as ESP,” said Danie Gitari from Thiba.
During his visit to the Mwea irrigation scheme, Muriithi said over Ksh.700 million is needed in Mwea irrigation to repair over 600 km of the poor road.
Rice farmers have vowed to stop paying Ksh. 5000 to the National Irrigation Authority if nothing is done in the scheme.
“There is no need of paying the money to the National authority if what is being done is being done in our farms. We are incurring losses as some of us are unable to transport bags of rice.”
Mwea irrigation scheme was started in 1954 with 65 acres and has since grown to the current gazetted area of 30,050 acres.
