Irrigation Act
2. Interpretation
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—“agency contract” means a legal agreement creating a fiduciary relationship whereby the principal agrees that subsequent actions by the agent are binding as if the principal acted thereupon;"agriculture" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Agriculture and Food Authority Act (Cap. 317);"Authority" means the National Irrigation Authority established under section 7;"authorized" means authorized by or under this Act;"Board" means the Board of the Authority established under section 9;"Cabinet Secretary" means the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for matters relating to irrigation;"Chief Executive Officer" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority appointed under section 12;"commercial irrigation farmer" means a farmer who by means of irrigation grows crops primarily for sale;“Council of Governors” means the Council of County Governors established under the Intergovenmental Relations Act (Cap. 265F);"county irrigation development unit" means the unit or entity established by a county government to carry out irrigation matters under section 14;"Department" means the State Department responsible for matters relating to irrigation;"Dispute Resolution Committee" means the Dispute Resolution Committee established under section 8(2)(d);"farmer" includes a crop, livestock or fish farmer;“irrigators” means the persons or entities which own, operate or manage an irrigation scheme;"irrigation" means any hydraulic engineering driven process, which supplies water to crops or any other cultivated plants, livestock, aquaculture and desired forest tress;"irrigation scheme" means a systematic and orderly irrigation system covering a defined area of land regardless of the type or system of irrigation employed;"irrigation management transfer" means the transfer to the users of authority and responsibility for both governance and delivery of management services in an irrigation and drainage scheme;"irrigation service fee" means the rates to be charged to water users for receiving irrigation services;"irrigation service plan" means the annual plan for water acquisition and distribution, scheme maintenance and repairs, other management tasks, staff and group labour mobilization, budget and irrigation service fee;"irrigation water user" means a member of a water users' association who uses water from an irrigation scheme for an approved purpose such as for crops, livestock, and fish farming;"irrigation water users’ association" means any association established under section 20;"large scale irrigation scheme" means a scheme which acreage size covers over three thousand acres, and is developed and managed by the Authority, and is established for national strategic purposes, or such schemes as implemented by the private sector;"licence" means a licence issued by the Cabinet Secretary or such other person as the Cabinet Secretary may authorize;"medium scale irrigation scheme" means a scheme which in acreage size covers over one hundred acres to three thousand acres, and is implemented by the Authority, or another state agency in collaboration with county government, or such schemes as implemented by a private entity;"Ministry" means the Ministry for the time being responsible for matters related to irrigation;"monitoring and evaluation" means a system of measuring, reporting and interpreting the quantity and quality of inputs provided, actions implemented, immediate outcomes achieved and ultimate impacts realized;"national irrigation scheme" means an area of land designated as such by the Cabinet Secretary through a gazette notice;"Scheme Management Committee" means the Scheme Management Committee established under section 8(2)(c);"smallholder irrigation and drainage scheme" means an irrigation scheme that is developed, owned and managed by communities as irrigation water user groups or individual farmers;"small scale irrigation scheme" means a scheme which in acreage size covers less than one hundred acres and implemented by a county government, or by the national government through Authority in case of trans boundary or inter county schemes or strategic schemes or such schemes as implemented by a private entity;"storage" means infrastructure and practices designed to capture and store water for use in irrigation;“strategic irrigation scheme” means a national or a county scheme which serves a specific production purpose;“transboundary, trans-county or inter county irrigation scheme” means a scheme whose area of coverage lies across at least two administrative county boundaries;"Water Tribunal" means the Water Tribunal established under section 119 of the Water Act (Cap. 372);"water harvesting" means activities where water from rainfall or surface runoff is collected, diverted, stored and utilized; and"Water Resources Authority" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Water Act (Cap. 372).[Act No. 33 of 2022, s. 2.]Source: Kenya Law