The Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers (NIAE) has identified agriculture as the panacea to fixing Nigerian economy and creating jobs for the teeming youths, while tasking government on dry season farming.
Speaking in a communique issued at the end of a public lecture organised by the Kaduna State Chapter of the Institution on Thursday in Kaduna and signed by Engr. Michael Ewaoda, NIAE called on government to collaborate with Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers to undertake proper research on the usage of ground water in Kaduna state.
The communique urged that ginger production in Kaduna state should be further enhanced using the ground and surface water irrigation system. “If we can fix agriculture by exploiting dry season farming, we can fix Kaduna state and Nigeria as a whole. This can be done by making agriculture a business.
“Our agricultural productivity can be doubled through dry season farming development as farmers can grow crops round the year and extreme poverty can be reduced by 2023. NIAE should would set up an action committee to put up a strong position paper on opportunities in the use of ground water systems in Kaduna state.”
The communiqué added, “that all water needs and ground water usage for irrigation should not be done in isolation as this would lead to underground water crisis which will exceed the energy crisis in the state”.
Addressing a public lecture titled ‘Ground and Surface Water Resources in Kaduna State: Potential for Dry Season Farming’ organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Society of Engineers in Kaduna, Engr. Emmanuel Sunday Olorunaiye of Kaduna Polytechnic, said that there are lots of benefits of dry season farming, noting that the crop yields are generally higher than other season.
Olorunaiye, explained that out of the total arable land of Kaduna state, about 2.5million hectares are under cultivation and 80,000 hectares are under Fadama land use. While calling for all year round farming, Olorunaiye expressed the need to explore the potentials of flood water utilization for irrigation in Kaduna state and other parts of the country.
