9 BENEFITS OF THE MWEA TEBERE IRRIGATION SCHEME IN KENYA

Source of food especially rice for human consumption.
Provided employment opportunities to the farmers hence improving their standards of living.
The project has helped to re-settle people who were formally landless.
The project has led to improvement in the infrastructure e.g. roads which has improved transport in the area.
Flooding of the rivers has been controlled hence improving the safety of lives of the people around.
It’s a source of government revenue through taxes used to develop infrastructures e.g. roads.
It has led to improvement in research hence resulting into high crop yielding varieties.

The project led to effective utilization of the land which could have remained idle hence reducing resource wastage.
It has led to development of processing industries which have led to urbanisation e.g. the rice mill at Mwea-Tebere.
Infrastructural development has led to urbanisation e.g. Thiba and Embu towns.
It has led to large scale output hence encouraging exports leading to acquisition of foreign exchange by government.

Problems faced by farmers on the scheme

Pests which destroy stored crops leading to losses e.g. rice weevils.
Diseases also destroy crops leading to low output e.g. rice blast and rice rust.
Price fluctuations due to over production which discourage the farmers from further production.
Weather changes which affect the output e.g. cool temperatures and heavy storms which destroy the crops.
Reduction in soil fertility due to monoculture leading to low output.
Weeds which compete with crops for soil nutrients leading to low quality output.

Limited capital for further investment which also leads to reduced output.
Soil salination due to high evaporation rates in the area leading to low output.
Inadequate labour force especially during the harvesting period which brings activities to a standstill.
Silting of canals which cause floods leading to destruction of farmlands.