Agua disponible para uso comercial en el área de acogida de refugiados de Kakuma

By 2019, Kenya had become the fifth largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, after Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Conflicts in neighbouring South Sudan and Somalia have driven large-scale displacement into the Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee-hosting areas of Turkana County, in Kenya’s arid north-west, home to over 195,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers.

To explore what the private sector could contribute to this context, the, set up the Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF) to enable better economic integration and self-reliance of displaced populations and their host communities through private sector investment. One of the key obstacles identified during IFC’s scoping missions was a lack of knowledge on whether sufficient water, in both quantity and quality, was available for commercial use, particularly for groundnut production, and how that water could be accessed.

The technical assistance project, namely “Feasibility Study on Quality and Quantity of Water Available for Commercial Use in Kakuma Refugee Hosting Area, Northern Kenya” aimed  to assess the question of water availability for commercial use. The study compiled and reconciled existing hydrological, hydrogeological and social/legal data on the Kakuma and Kalobeyei area, collated from over 100 boreholes and multiple prior studies, and combined it with stakeholder consultations across government agencies, humanitarian actors, research institutions and the private sector.

The main outcomes of the project were:

Main Outcomes

• Confirmed potential for irrigated agriculture in the region, though existing stress on water resources means development requires dedicated investment in water infrastructure.
• Found rain-fed farming to be largely infeasible without irrigation, and large-scale groundwater abstraction for irrigation to be constrained by its role as the only source of drinking water for refugee and host communities, alongside long-term salinity risks.
• Identified significant, though highly seasonal, surface water resources, with an estimated 133 km² of land suitable for water pan development, and the Tarach Dam identified as the most promising option for large-scale irrigated farming, pending further feasibility study and catchment conservation to manage sediment load.
• Identified shallow and medium-depth alluvial aquifers as the most promising groundwater sources for smaller-scale agribusiness, provided abstraction does not compromise existing drinking water supply.
• Delivered practical recommendations to IFC on water availability, access, quality, suitability and cost, including borehole siting guidance, the case for further hydrogeological investigation, and the social and legal pathways for a private investor to secure land and water access in the area.