Cotton farmers from pastoralist communities at Hola Irrigation Scheme inspect their farms.
Once a town on the rise in Tana River County, Hola stood at the cusp of prosperity before its fortunes dramatically changed.
Before the year 2000, Hola thrived on a flourishing cotton industry anchored by the renowned Hola Cotton Ginnery.
Established in 1953 under the Hola Irrigation Scheme, the factory brought transformation to the area.
Cotton farming spanned 12,000 acres, sustaining farmers, loaders, spinners, clerks and countless others working in harmony with the land. At its peak in the 1970s, the ginnery processed nearly half of Kenya’s cotton, drawing produce from Hola and neighbouring Bura.
Alexander Muko, an agronomist who has worked with the scheme for nearly three decades, remembers those golden years vividly.
“I did my attachment at that factory when it was thriving. There was bounty, there was joy. Even the villages around felt its presence,” he recalls. “Farming was our livelihood, and every cotton season brought hope.”
But in 1989, River Tana unexpectedly changed course. The irrigation pumps failed—and with them, an entire way of life vanished.
Plunged into poverty
The cotton fields dried up. The factory ground to a halt. Machinery rusted. Families who once thrived were plunged into poverty. Said Yeriba, who once cultivated 40 acres of cotton, remembers the decline with pain.
“When the river changed direction, it was the end of cotton,” he says. “My family went hungry. That ginnery was more than a workplace—it was our future.”
Despite attempts to restore irrigation, efforts proved futile. Farmers, once united in purpose, dispersed. Some relocated to try rice farming in the Tana Delta. Others gave up entirely.
Mohammed Bonaya, a farmer inspecting his cotton farm at Hola Irrigation Scheme.
“At its best, the ginnery processed cotton valued at Sh54 per kilo,” says Mr Muko. “Each season, over 500 acres yielded around 200 tonnes—worth roughly Sh54 million. More than 1,400 households supplied cotton directly, with many others depending on the broader value chain.”
Then it all collapsed.
Businesses shut down. School attendance dropped. Hola’s economy crumbled. Today, the ginnery lies in ruins, its decaying walls a monument to better days. Hola now survives on boda boda transport, small-scale vendors and seasonal farming. Cotton, once the town’s beating heart, is no longer grown.
New market
There was renewed hope in 2009 when the government, through the Economic Stimulus Programme and funding from BADEA (Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa), began rehabilitating the irrigation scheme.
The diesel generator was relocated to Makere, and pest-resistant Bt cotton varieties were introduced. Kitui and Malindi ginneries became the new market.
“With this new cotton, farmers could earn up to Sh100,000 per acre,” Mr Muko notes. “But the capped price of Sh52 per kilo discouraged many. After one season, most abandoned cotton for rice and maize.”
James Kirimi, the scheme manager from the National Irrigation Authority, acknowledges the challenge: “To the farmers, it felt like planting your hope in Hola and harvesting disappointment in Wote,” he says wryly. “They believed rice and maize offered better returns.”
Proposals to revive the ginnery have been made, but progress remains slow.
Yet hope lingers.
Annah Halako walks through her late husband’s fallow cotton fields. The soil remains fertile. So does the will to farm.
She is demanding full implementation of the United Democratic Alliance manifesto, which promised to ban second-hand clothes and promote local textile manufacturing.
“I wish Kazi Mtaani youths could be assigned to cotton plantations. The government has land—use 2,000 acres and assign 30 young people. That would show us the value of that investment,” she suggests.
