Sigor wei wei integrated development project is one of Kenya’s Vision 2030 flagship projects. It is located in sigor constituency, west pokot county. The project is a joint collaboration between the Governments of Kenya and Italy. The project was conceived in 1986 where Kenya and Italy signed a bilateral cooperation protocol.
The first phase began in 1987 with a grant of 8 million USD for implementation of hydraulic works of 70 hectares, supplies for mechanization and construction of a service center including a machinery workshop. The second phase costing 7 million started in 1992 with a more participatory approach and the following activities were carried out, development of 205 hectares, supply of goods and technical assistance\training program. The third phase started in May, 2016 to be implemented in 24 months to bring additional 325 ha under irrigation. The total acreage under irrigation by the end of this phase would be 600 ha.
Overall project objective
To develop irrigation infrastructure for food production, improved house hold income and reduce insecurity created by cattle rustling through creation of employment opportunities.
Benefits realized in Wei Wei project phase I and II
- A total of 275 ha have been developed and 1ha allocated to 255 household while 50 ha is KVDA demonstration farms.
- Provision of training to 255 household farmers on modern farming techniques.
- Creation of employment opportunities.
- Increased household income for farmers to a tune of over Kshs 50 million annually.
- Improved health and education standards.
- Ready market for seed produced from kentia seed, western seed and East African seed company.
WeiWei phase III
Arising from the success achieved under phase I and II of the project, the government of Kenya sought financial and technical assistance from the Italian government for phase III amounting to Euro 9,187,491. The components of phase III of this project involves developing irrigation infrastructure on 325 ha, capacity building and supply of machinery. The contract of construction service was awarded to AIMA CIS srl of Italy under an implementation period of 24 months. The construction works commenced in May 2016. The contractor has carried out survey works, bush clearing of 200ha and access roads.
Project activities
- rehabilitation of the existing irrigation scheme
- land development and irrigation infrastructure for 325 ha
- conservation of korellach catchment area 2630 ha
- capacity building of farmers
- construction of offices and access roads 7km within the project
Expected project benefits
- increased irrigation area from 275 ha to 600 ha
- improved food security and household income
- creation of employment opportunities
- capacity building
- reduced soil erosion and flash floods
- community support initiatives