Dry season farming: AFAN seeks functional irrigation schemes


The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has called on governments at all levels to support dry season farming through functional irrigation schemes.
The Chairman of the association in Niger, Alhaji Shehu Galadima,  made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Sunday.
“We have started the dry season farming in Niger state but we are having problem of irrigation because the 18 irrigation schemes constructed by the state government have collapsed.
“Also dams and other irrigation system established by the Federal Government across the state are either not working or not functioning to full capacity,’’ he said.
Galadima noted with concern that out of over eight irrigation facilities established by the Federal Government only Tungan Kawo irrigation facility in Wushishi Local Government Area of the state is functional.
The AFAN chairman alerted that dearth of irrigation facilities would bring a set back to the 2017 dry season farming in the state.
“We want adequate water supply to our farms to make sure we get good yields,’’ he said.
He said that the more than 10,000 farmers participating in 2017 dry season farming in the state hardly access irrigation from rivers Niger and Kaduna, and other small rivers within in the state.
Galadima expressed regret that many farmers lack water pumping machines that will address their difficulty in conveying water to their farm lands.
The AFAN chairman noted that erection of dams would serve a good purpose in promoting all season farming which would in turn create wealth and jobs in addition to achieving national food security.

“If we have enough food we can as well export to other countries to boost our economy,’’ he said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit...
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultura...
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus, ...
Read more