World Bank pledges to reposition irrigated farming in Nigeria for economic development.
On Thursday in Abuja, the World Bank revealed its intention to reorient Nigeria’s irrigation farming for long-term economic development and food security.
It made the announcement when officials from its Sustainable Power and Irrigation in Nigeria/Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (SPIN/TRIMING) initiative paid a visit to Prof. Joseph Utsev, Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation. Mr. Jun Matsumoto was in charge of the officials and functioned as the team leader.
Matsumoto recognised the effective transformation of irrigation asset management in Nigeria as a result of the emergence of water user associations. He emphasised the importance of associations in assuring the long-term management of irrigation resources and requested assistance in accomplishing the project’s goals.
He stressed the necessity of teamwork in the future SPIN initiative and commented on its main goals. Matsumoto stated that one of the goals was to use existing water resource infrastructure to meet Nigeria’s water and electricity needs.
According to him, the project will comprise thorough technical support studies focusing on large-scale water resource management and the development of multi-purpose dam hydropower projects. Prof. Utsev said that the achievements already achieved in Nigeria’s TRIMING initiative were excellent.
He stressed the interdependence of economic sustainability and food security, emphasising the TRIMING project’s critical role in increasing food production. The minister praised the plan to replace TRIMING, which is slated to expire in 2024, with SPIN, saying it would address Nigeria’s acute food sufficiency concerns.
Prof. Utsev underlined the Federal Government’s commitment to national food security, improved irrigation systems, and improved farming practises. He thanked the World Bank for the amazing progress made on the initiative over the last nine years and expressed hope that it will generate even more significant results. In four repaired irrigation schemes, TRIMING improved the quality of and access to productivity-enhancing and market-access services for 130,000 farmers.
They are the Bakolori Irrigation Scheme in Zamfara, Sokoto State’s Middle Rima Irrigation Scheme, Kano River Irrigation Scheme, and Jigawa’s Hadejia Valley Irrigation Scheme. The initiative gives technical help to each irrigation system in order to construct a Farmers’ Management Centre.