About the project
Within the Tana Delta Irrigation Project (TDIP) footprint, the Tarda Rice Project is turning 4,400 hectares of ready, irrigated land in Tana River County into a mechanised, low-carbon rice hub, with a 12,000-hectare expansion held in the same concession.
TDIP was created to tap the agricultural potential of the Tana River floodplain. The soil is fertile and the water is plentiful, but repeated floods and a shortage of capital kept interrupting operations.
Under a renewed national push for food security and a new PPP structure, the project has been rebuilt as the Tarda Rice Project. Iconium is the private operating partner and works closely with TARDA. Together they are restoring the infrastructure and moving TDIP away from flood-prone, legacy farming toward a flood-protected, commercially viable and environmentally sustainable enterprise.
Master plan
The operating core of TDIP, with perimeter dykes, main supply canals and primary drainage already in place. Rehabilitation is under way: 1,300 acres have been restored to production, and 1,225 of them were harvested in the first proof cycle.
Expansion land, not yet developed. The plan covers extending the main canal, installing electric pumping stations for precise water control, and building automated bulk grain-drying centres.
Expansion land, not yet developed. Phase III: commercial scale-up, long-term outgrower blocks and integrated agro-processing facilities.
A self-sufficient Kenya that exports rice, built on sustainable technology, rural industry and high-yield commercial farming.
To develop and run 12,000 hectares of climate-resilient polder in the Tana Delta, producing more than 70,000 metric tonnes of premium rice a year at full scale, and building lasting wealth and social infrastructure for the communities that host us. Phase 1 gets the first 4,400 hectares under commercial production.
Guiding principles