FG embarks on all year irrigated agric


The Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, has stated that the federal government through the ministry has embarked on extensive all-year-round irrigated agriculture towards attaining food security and facilitating alternative sources of wealth creation.

Adamu stated this recently at a-day workshop in Abuja for media practitioners in the water sector, adding that the Ministry is supporting the nation towards ensuring significant reduction in total dependency on rain-fed agriculture.

He said the government target was to raise irrigation to 500,000 heaters by year 2030 while the private sector are expected to develop a million hectares.

“On the issue of irrigation, we have a target of raising irrigation to 500,000 heaters by the year 2030 and a million hectares to be developed by the private sectors. We have potential for 14,000 mega watt of hydro power and right now may be about 25 to 30% has been exploited. We would expect that much more will be done in the next 11 to 12 years of the road map,” he said 

He gave assurance that the current administration will not concenssion the dams across the country but that it has commenced processes of concessioning the hydro power component of the dam.

“We are not concessioning any dam when we concession, we can concession the hydro power component of the dam, but the dam will still be owned by the federal government. All we will do is to provide some leasing arrangements for fish farming and those are the kind of things we can do. We concession  hydro power and aquaculture.

“In Gurara, we rome hydro power plant. All the processes for concessioning has been completed, it is now the matter of presenting to the Federal  Executive  Council for approval.

“We have 15 years water resources road map that was signed by Mr President in June 2016 to be premiered. That’s what we are work on and we feel that the road map takes care of everything that you can think of regarding the mandates of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and I just hope that successive administration and successive ministers will ride on what we have be doing and curtailing the sustainable development goals on 6.1 on water and sanitation,” he said.

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