Turkana County is exploring ways to strengthen irrigation and improve food security after an agricultural technical team visited Baringo County for a benchmarking exercise on the establishment and operationalization of a County Irrigation Development Unit (CIDU).
The delegation is seeking to learn from Baringo’s experience in developing and managing irrigation schemes, with discussions focusing on how the CIDU model has contributed to agricultural production, scheme management and farmer capacity building.
The visit follows a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop held in November 2025 on the proposed establishment of CIDU in Turkana County.
Led by Turkana County Secretary Dr Richard Ekai, the delegation held discussions with Baringo County officials on irrigation development, management of irrigation schemes and community participation in agricultural programmes.
Baringo has established 35 irrigation schemes, providing the Turkana team with an opportunity to study the county’s approach to expanding irrigation and increasing agricultural production.
Baringo County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries Risper Chepkonga said the CIDU model had strengthened the management of irrigation schemes while improving farmers’ capacity.
“Through CIDU, we have been able to map all our irrigation schemes, develop a county irrigation strategy and provide capacity building for farmers across the schemes,” Chepkonga said.
Dr Ekai said irrigation remains critical to improving food security in Turkana and noted that the county could draw valuable lessons from Baringo’s experience.
“Irrigation is the only way to grow food and eradicate diseases and malnutrition. Since the two counties share similar features, this exposure visit is important to us as we seek to learn how Baringo has been able to achieve this dream,” Dr Ekai said.
The delegation is expected to continue its engagement with Baringo officials through visits to selected irrigation schemes, where members will assess their operations and interact with farmers and other stakeholders.
The lessons gathered during the exposure visit are expected to inform Turkana’s ongoing efforts to establish and operationalise its County Irrigation Development Unit.
The benchmarking exercise is being supported by the Food Systems Resilient Project (FSRP).
The delegation includes members of the Turkana County Assembly led by Agriculture Committee Chairman Hon. William Etubon, as well as members of the County Public Service Board led by its Chairman, Peter Ekunyuk.
Chief Officer David Maraka is leading officials from the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Land Reclamation, while the State Department of Irrigation is represented by Lawrence Muriithi.
