Preface
Government of Kenya (GoK) through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MOAL&C) sought financing from the African Development Bank for the Program to build resilience for food and nutrition security in the horn of Africa-Kenya (DRSLP II). The project will assist MOALF&C to prevent and respond to the threat to community livelihoods posed by the Drought and vagaries of weather and strengthen Kenya’s system for preparedness. Poor farmers and pastoralists are particularly vulnerable to livelihood loss and income shocks from drought as they are the least able to save their income and smooth consumption in times of crisis; hence the need for targeted mechanisms in sustainable livelihoods as spelt out in the project documents. The proposed Gubadida Irrigation project includes carrying out the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA). This report presents the ESIA Executive Summary (ES)
Project Background
Recurrent droughts and unpredictable rainfall patterns are characteristic of arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), which receive less than 600 mm of annual rainfall and comprise more than 70%
of the Horn of Africa region, where the eight IGAD member countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda) are located. As a result of the negative impact of drought on the lives and livelihoods of several million people and the resulting suffering and loss of human and animal life. The program aims to contribute to poverty reduction, food security and accelerated sustainable economic growth in the Horn of Africa through improved rural incomes. Specifically, it aims to improve the drought resilience of arid and semi-arid land communities. Project interventions cover water supply for people, livestock, irrigation and sanitation as well as the effective management of head-waters and basic water sources; improvement of plant and animal production, marketing and disease management. The new and upcoming second phase of the DRSLP titled; Program for Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security in the Horn of Africa, follows the decision of the African Development Bank at the February 2019 roundtable on financing the Climate Investment Plan for the Sahel region.
The Project is expected to benefit all the farmers and pastoralist in the impacted and selected counties in Kenya. The areas under intervention are situated in the seven counties of arid and semi-arid area of Kenya namely, Baringo, Isiolo, Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot, Marsabit and Garissa. The target study area for this study is Gubadida, Kinna ward in Garbatulla sub-county, Isiolo County.
Overall Goal
The proposed project has the overall objective of ensuring sustainable food security and nutrition to community of Gubadida and the Isiolo county at large. In this areas rainfall unreliability has been a major challenge whereas drought and food insecurity are prevalent. One of the challenges facing the locals in food production is scarcity of water. Water is the key element in economic, social and cultural development of any society. The general project area is faced with challenges of food production and increasing population that needs to be fed. One possible solution to this problem is to increase water availability for use in the proposed flood-based irrigation. To improve the welfare or livelihood implies that land resources must be developed and utilized for viable agricultural production through irrigation. Proper irrigation farming in addition to water management is necessary for full exploitation of the area’s agricultural potential. The irrigation potential for the area is great but only a few areas have been used under subsistence dry land farming. The project will bring optimal utilization of local irrigation potential, attainment of food self-sufficiency through sustainable production and security, improvement of income generation, employment and wealth creation. This will be in line with country’s vision 2030 and the Big four agenda. Food security in Isiolo County is not assured because of the over-reliance on rain fed agriculture. The rain -fed agriculture practiced in the hinterland gives low and unreliable performance due to unfavourable climatic conditions in the area. The rains regime in the area is unreliable and poorly distributed to sustain a meaningful crop production system.
In the past, nomadic pastoralism has been the main economic mainstay in the area and the local population has been relying on it entirely for food production and income generation. However pastoral production is characterized with declining production attributed to a host of many factors, key among them being a weak early warning systems and poor disaster preparedness.
Irrigation farming has been identified as major boost to communities in terms of food production and income supplementation. This is the most appropriate intervention towards improving household nutritional status, alleviations of poverty (through improved community managed disaster preparedness) and cushioning pastoralists against the impact of drought by building their resilience. To guarantee food security, proper management of water resources is absolutely necessary. This encompasses taking all deliberate human action designed to optimize the available resources and utilization of water for agricultural purpose. This includes practices such as rain water harvesting through water pan excavation and Irrigation. This project is aimed at making flood water available for agricultural production along the Gubadida dry-river bed that receives high volumes of flood water from Ethiopian highlands and thus building resilience in food security and nutrition.
General Project Objectives/Components
The program aims to contribute to poverty reduction, food security and accelerated sustainable economic growth in the Horn of Africa through improved rural incomes. Specifically, it aims to improve the drought resilience of arid and semi-arid land communities through the following four key components:
Component 1: Strengthening the resilience of drought prone areas and Pastoral and Agro-Sylvo-Pastoral Production systems to Climate Change:The component comprise:
• Support for Sustainable Management of Agro-pastoral land
• Development of Climate Resilient Infrastructure
• Promotion of Climate-smart innovations and technologies
Component 2: Supporting Agribusiness Development through the following:
• Access to advisory services, financing and markets;
• Supporting Development of Entrepreneurship
• Promoting Domestic Bio-digesters and Solar Energy
Component 3: Strengthening Adaptive capacity to Climate Change by means of:
• Development of Climate Services
• Building capacity of main stakeholders in the agro-pastoral sectors in the drought prone areas for mainstreaming and monitoring Climate Change
• Strengthening the Operational Capacity for resilience Component 4: Program Coordination and Management
The proposed Gubadida Irrigation project falls within Component 1 under strengthening the resilience of drought prone areas particularly development of Climate Resilient agricultural Infrastructure which includes rehabilitation/construction of small irrigation schemes.
Main Project Activities
The proposed projects’ activities can generally be divided into four stages, namely:
preconstruction/project design; construction; operation; and eventual decommissioning of the Irrigation scheme as described below.
1.5.1 Pre-construction/Project Design
As part of the pre-construction stage, DRSLP II has commissioned environmental consultant to conduct an ESIA having identified the need for an irrigation project in Kinna ward, Garbatulla Sub-County in Isiolo County. A preliminary design has been developed and will be taken forward for detailed design and implementation. This executive summary to the ESIA report forms part of the conceptual design.
Currently, DRSLP II is in the process of applying for various permits and licenses including application of water abstraction permit from WRA. The procurement of the various goods and services and contracting of the construction firm and other consultants is anticipated to begin after the completion of the ESIA process and development of the detailed design for the project site.
1.5.2 Construction
The construction of the Irrigation project may require the creation of some temporary access roads to the construction sites. The construction of project will also require localised vegetation clearance at farm preparation level and for laying the pipeline. Materials arising from the excavation of pipeline trenches and ponds (soil, rock etc.) would either be spread in appropriate areas surrounding the line or disposed off appropriately after considering the necessary permits.
The construction of the Irrigation project will require the creation of permanent access roads connecting to the local / national road network. The sites will first need to be cleared of vegetation and excavated to create ponds. Civil works would then start including creation of onsite roads, drainage, digging of foundations, pouring of concrete and creation of areas of hard standing. Site buildings for housing instrumentation, storage and staff residence would then be constructed. The Irrigation project will also be fitted with the necessary machinery for pressurized water distribution and allow the necessary tests.
1.5.3 Operation and maintenance
Once constructed, the Conveyance System will require minimal maintenance. Annual visual inspection of the line is expected. After a period that will be established in the operation and maintenance manual, the entire system would need a detailed survey and overhaul. There may be a requirement for occasional visits to remove tree or branches where they start to grow too close conveyance corridor and affect maintenance activities. Access rights may need to be retained to allow for maintenance works in the future.
The intake works will require periodic maintenance of the intake chamber and of the site infrastructure (screens, gates, roadways etc) resulting in the generation of minimal waste.
1.5.4 Decommissioning
The transmission system and distribution system are planned to serve the irrigation water requirements, local human and animal population. Even after the design period, the project could be expanded to increase its operational life. As such, the precise year of decommissioning may not be precisely defined at this stage. As such, decommissioning could be triggered by a range of factors which will be determined through a study at the appropriate time. Nonetheless, decommissioning works would include dismantling the irrigation system and farm restoration.
The process of decommissioning would ensure that it restores the affected environment to conditions acceptable to NEMA. Environmental and Social impacts associated with the decommissioning process would be minimised through the implementation of an environmental and social management plan (ESMP) that that has been highlighted in this executive summary.
The ESMP was prepared in the projects ESIA report.