NAKURU: Nakuru County Government is advancing its commitment to renewable energy through a public-private partnership, providing incentives and technical support to farmers. This initiative is designed to increase the adoption of renewable energy in agriculture and fisheries, with the goal of enhancing food security.
According to Kenya News Agency, the County Executive Committee Member for Water, Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, Dr. Nelson Maara, emphasized the county’s efforts in driving a clean energy revolution. This initiative aims to improve climate change adaptation and strengthen food security by enhancing local agriculture through improved irrigation, cold storage, and fuel-efficient technologies. The county is promoting the use of equipment that mitigates post-harvest losses and preserves food quality through indirect geothermal heating, green energy-powered cooling technologies, solar dryers, and milling and oil processing equipment.
In collaboration with the Geothermal Development Comp
any, Nakuru is supplying farmers with geothermal steam for agricultural processes, including drying tea and cereals, powering dairy pasteurization, heating greenhouses, and fish farming. Dr. Maara highlighted the potential of solar-powered irrigation to aid in resource-efficient agricultural production, noting that solar-powered cold storage rooms offer effective solutions in off-grid areas via shared ownership, lease, or ‘pay-per-use’ business models.
Dr. Maara provided a cost comparison for irrigation, illustrating that using a solar pump to irrigate an acre over five years costs Sh330,000, compared to Sh660,000 with a diesel pump. He emphasized that the partnership is crucial for addressing energy access challenges, improving productivity, and creating jobs. Renewable energy, he added, could significantly contribute to ending hunger, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing farmers’ adaptive capacity, raising incomes, and lessening the environmental impact of the food sector.
To advance the use of r
enewable energy in agri-food systems for food security, Dr. Maara stressed the need for coordinated action from government decision-makers, the private sector, international organizations, financing institutions, academia, and NGOs. Geothermal energy, he noted, could greatly enhance food production quality and security if efficiently harnessed.
In fish farming, geothermal heat maintains aquatic ponds at an optimal 29 degrees centigrade, accelerating fish growth and increasing profitability. Farmers are encouraged to use solar panels to generate electricity for water pumping, supporting village water supply, livestock watering, and small-scale crop irrigation.
Research Associate Victor Otieno from the World Resources Institute explained that the partnership with several counties, including Nakuru, involves collecting data to identify effective renewable energy applications in agriculture and fisheries. The data will guide investments in technologies like solar-powered irrigation and cold storage solutions. I
n Nakuru, the project targets key value chains such as kales, cabbages, tomatoes, mangoes, and pineapples to boost productivity and reduce post-harvest losses.
The United Nations Environment Programme notes that the global food production system accounts for a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, with over 70 percent emanating from livestock, fisheries, crop production, and land use. The remainder is linked to food processing supply chains involving packaging, transport, and retail.