(Standard Digital-Kenya) Eugene Wamalwa - Israel changed its water and food fortunes after realizing that rain-fed agriculture was not sustainable and turned to irrigated agriculture. Israel stopped waiting for rain and water from the Sea of Galilee and sent salt water from the Mediterranean Sea through desalination plants and practiced waste-water recycling to give its citizens millions of cubic meters of water in excess of their needs. Through irrigation, Israel has turned the desert green and produced enough food for its national consumption as well as export. Israel is a water and irrigation superpower and No. 1 in the world in waste-water recycling. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to bring about a paradigm shift from rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture that will remove Kenya from the yoke of food and water insecurity by rapidly increasing the acreage under irrigation to over a million acres, while building local capacity through technical training in collaboration with Israel. Israel has promised to double the number of Kenyans training in Israel and to establish the Irrigation and Water Engineering Institute in Kenya to give the country technical capability as it increases its acreage under irrigation. Other initiatives include partnering with Kenya in developing desalination along Kenya's 500 km. coast along the Indian Ocean, and supporting Kenya's new Water for Schools Program to connect all our public schools to water.
2016-03-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive