Culled from Daily Trust 

Irrigation activities have kicked off at Danja Irrigation Dam, Katsina State, with farmers preparing farms and planting different crops in high hopes. According to the…

Irrigation activities have kicked off at Danja Irrigation Dam, Katsina State, with farmers preparing farms and planting different crops in high hopes.

According to the farmers, there was no official launch of the irrigation activities, but they were taking advantage of the newly constructed dam to produce food crops such as tomatoes, onions, cabbage and potatoes.

Abubakar Mohammed Sani, who was seen watering a tomato farm, said finishing touches were being put in place by government to complete the dam project.

“As you can see, we have started farming in this dam this year; we are taking advantage of any chance available to embark on food production. We are happy that with this development, our youth will soon begin to generate wealth.”

Sani added that the farming activities in the area were, however, skeletal pending the completion of the dam.

Another farmer, Musa Lawal, said they were starting irrigation farming with sweet potatoes to reduce the huge cost associated with tomato production.

“We are grossly affected by the high cost of living bedevilling the country; the cost of fertiliser, seeds, chemicals, and fuel is beyond an average farmer. We, therefore, decided to plant sweet potatoes as they require less fertiliser and less frequency of watering,” Musa Lawal said.

He added that Danja, being an agriculture-based economy, will exploit every opportunity in the newly constructed dam.

Meanwhile, irrigation farmers who relied on tube wells, open wells and rivers are suffering early drying up of their water sources this dry season.

Muntari Aliyu Danja, one of the victims, said many farmers are affected and the volume of tomato production has been grossly reduced.

“The incidence is occasioned by the early stoppage of rainfall in the last wet season. Our wells have dried up mid-way into our tomato production. Many of us have lost a lot of money in investment as we left our tomatoes at the farms drying up.”

He added that the yield of tomatoes was affected in Danja area and it will definitely affect its price in no distant time.

“Unless other areas that have adequate water maximise their production, there is looming scarcity of the produce in the state considering the volume of tomatoes lost in Danja LGA,” Muntari Aliyu Danja said.

Another farmer, Abdullahi Kado, said the water problem was temporary, bearing in mind the establishment of the irrigation dam in the area.

“Naturally, when water settles in the dam every other water source in the area will be filled. I bet you by next year, the story will be different, our concern now is how the unfortunate development affected our farmers, especially in this period of dwindling economy.”

Kado further said there was no way wells would not run dry after years of irrigation activities.