Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The federal government has reassured Nigerians of its commitment to make the country self-sufficient in food production, employment and wealth creation.
The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu gave the assurance in Ilorin, Kwara state capital on Tuesday during the North-Central regional workshop on establishment /strengthening of water association for management of public irrigation schemes.
He said that, the move will be achievable through promotion of all-season farming via irrigation.
Adamu added that, “We have also taken a giant stride towards attaining food sufficiency and security.
“This is achievable through irrigated agriculture by promoting all season farming, which is also one of the primary mandates of the department of irrigation and drainage of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, in partnership with River Basin Development Authority.
“Consequently, a wholesome change in irrigational institution management framework as proposed by the transforming irrigation management of the Nigerian project including the reorganization of sector water user associations and formation of water user’s groups along hydraulic structures is inevitable in order to sustain the systems of the farmers in the irrigation scheme.
“The training project is a World Bank sponsored programme under the
Federal Ministry of Water Resources with the principal aim of transforming irrigation management in Nigeria. I therefore want to use this medium to call on this workshop to brainstorm and deliberate on the challenging issues and constraints affecting the full realization of the Federal Government’s commitment in achieving food sufficiency, employment generation and wealth creation through irrigated agriculture, ”he said.
In his remark, Kwara state Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq represented by his Deputy Kayode Alabi said that the programme is an attempt by the Fderal Government to ensure farmers’ involvement in irrigation.
AbdulRazaq said that “let me use this medium to inform Kwarans as well as other guests that this is the beginning of another timely intervention by the Federal Government in introducing the concept of participatory irrigation management (PIM) for our farming communities.
He added, “The scheme is to ensure Farmers’ complete involvement in irrigation right from conceptualization (the planning stage) to the implementation and management level with a view to sustaining it.”
