KENYA – Kenya plans to lease vast tracts of land to Israeli investors for wheat production, marking a new chapter in agricultural collaboration between the two nations.
The announcement came after discussions between Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister, and Avi Dichter, Israel’s Agriculture Minister, during which they outlined plans for Israeli investment in thousands of hectares in Kenya.
“This is a private-private arrangement that will be guaranteed by the two governments by providing necessary logistics and a conducive environment,” Mudavadi said in a statement.
The agreement, which includes a 25-year farming deal, targets large tracts of arable land in Kenya. This effort is also viewed as part of Israel’s strategy to mitigate its own declining food production, exacerbated by external factors such as the war in Ukraine.
This initiative follows the failure of an earlier Israeli-led maize project at the Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme, which had aimed to enhance food security through large-scale farming.
Mudavadi, however, maintained that the renewed partnership aligns with Kenya’s 2022 policy to commercialize large-scale agricultural activities on public land, which the Kenyan Cabinet approved in June 2022 under former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The policy targeted to create a framework for leasing idle land owned by public institutions for extensive agricultural activities, prioritising irrigation over rain-fed farming.
Under the terms of the Kenya-Israeli partnership, Israeli investors will collaborate with local farmers to boost wheat supply for Kenya’s domestic market and make Kenyan-grown wheat and other agricultural products more competitive globally by leveraging Israel’s advanced agricultural technologies.
These technologies promise to lower production costs, enhance productivity, and ensure sustainable farming practices by minimizing water and soil use.
Lessons from the Galana-Kulalu experience
The new wheat initiative comes four years after Kenya cancelled a contract with Israeli firm Green Arava, which was initially tasked with developing a model farm on 10,000 acres at the Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme.
The project was meant to be a precursor to expanding production on one million acres. However, the initiative faltered, with Green Arava managing to cultivate only 500 acres before the National Irrigation Authority terminated the contract, citing slow implementation and inflated costs.
The Galana-Kulalu Food Security Project, situated within the one million-acre Galana Irrigation complex, was launched in 2015 under the “Big 4” agenda as part of the regime’s drive to attain food security.
The project was initiated to help Kenya overcome its perennial shortage of maize.
However, the project, expected to cost the government US$54M on full implementation, has been plagued by mismanagement and corruption, which reflect broader issues affecting large-scale agricultural investments in many developing countries.
In May 2023, the government allocated KES 1.1 billion (US$8 million) for the scheme’s electrification in a bid to attract private investors to the farm and boost local production of staple crops.
Despite the setbacks, Dichter expressed optimism about the renewed partnership, highlighting Kenya’s vast arable land and Israel’s expertise in water-efficient agriculture.
“Our advanced technologies can help Kenya overcome its agricultural challenges,” Dichter noted.
A recent feasibility study by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) suggested that the lack of basic amenities, such as electricity, potable water, and essential services, had been a major barrier to investor participation.
Mudavadi stressed that the government is now focused on addressing these gaps to encourage more private-sector involvement.
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