By Abdimalik Hajir - Reporter
30 November 2025 - President William Ruto has reaffirmed his administration’s determination to transform Kenya’s North Eastern and Coastal regions into the country’s new food baskets through large-scale irrigation farming.
Speaking in Masalani, Ijara Constituency, during the wedding of Mr Mohammed Noordin Mohamed Y. Haji – son of National Intelligence Service Director-General Noordin Haji – and Jamila Mohammed Abdulgader Al Sawae, the President announced that the construction of 50 mega dams will bring 1.5 million acres of land under irrigation in the two historically arid regions.
“In our national plan to place 2.5 million acres under irrigation, 1.5 million acres will come from Northern Kenya and the Coast,” he revealed.
President Ruto explained that areas long classified as low-potential will become high-yield agricultural zones once water is harnessed.
One flagship project, the High Grand Falls Dam on the Tana River in Tharaka-Nithi and Kitui counties, will alone irrigate between 300,000 and 400,000 acres and turn Garissa into a major food-production hub.
“For too long Kenya has depended on just 15% of its land that receives reliable rainfall. It is time to bring the remaining 85% into production by storing water for irrigation,” he said, adding that irrigation farming will make food production predictable and position Kenya as a net exporter of agricultural products.
On infrastructure, the President said the 410-kilometre Lamu–Ijara–Garissa–Garbatulla Road is 50% complete, while the 750-kilometre Isiolo–Mandera Road – the longest single road project ever undertaken by any administration in Kenya – will be finished during the current term.
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Together, these projects mean 1,100 km of new tarmac are under construction in North Eastern alone.
He further disclosed that the government has mapped 28,000 km of roads for tarmacking nationwide, more than the 22,000 km built in the first 60 years of independence.
In education, the national budget allocation has risen from KSh 490 billion in 2021 to KSh 700 billion this year – nearly 30 per cent of the total budget.
The investment has funded 23,000 new classrooms, 1,600 laboratories, the hiring of 100,000 teachers, and expanded university and college funding.
President Ruto insisted that no region will be left behind, assuring North Eastern residents of full inclusion in national development programmes.
While in Masalani, he officially opened Yusuf Haji Girls Secondary School and handed over a new school bus, launched Phase Two of the school’s expansion, commissioned 376 affordable housing units under the Ijara Affordable Housing Project, and announced the construction of 32 additional classrooms, the upgrading of Masalani Hospital, and the establishment of a Kenya Medical Training College campus in the area.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale praised the President for restoring dignity to the people of North Eastern, particularly through the removal of past discrimination in the issuance of national identity cards and other documents.
Other leaders present during the Saturday events were Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula, Governors Nathif Jama Adam (Garissa) and Abdulswamad Nassir (Mombasa), Senators Oburu Odinga (Siaya), and Olekina Ledama (Narok), and Haji Abdul Mohammed (Garissa) among others.
