Tomato growers in Kano State have lost over N1billion this dry season, following the closure of Tiga Dam by the Hadeja-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority. This is raising concerns because of the possibility of a nationwide tomato shortage. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
In the heart of Kawada Valley, one of Nigeria’s most productive agricultural regions in Kano State, farmers are finding it difficult to get water to irrigate their farms. This followed the closure of Tiga Dam by the Hadeja-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority.
This has made the farmers to start counting losses. Water from Tiga Dam irrigates over 10,000 tomato farms in Kadawa community.
Tomato Growers Association of Nigeria Secretary-General Alhaji Sani Danladi-Yadakwari said the closure of the dam, which is the main source of water for irrigation in the state, had negatively affected tomato production by 60 per cent.
“Kano State produces over 400, 000 metric tonnes of tomatoes every dry season because farmers cultivate over 2,000 hectares of irrigable land.
“So the recent closure of the dam by Hadeja-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority (HJRBDA) has affected our production due to water,” he said.
According to him, tomato growers in the state has lost 250,000 tonnes of the produce, which represents 60 per cent of their total production.
He said the dam was closed for over 40 days.
“Many of our members had planted the tomatoes when suddenly the HJRBDA closed the dam and the closure had affected our farms,” he said.
He, therefore, advised the authority to always notify critical holders whenever they wanted to conduct maintenance of facilities at the dam site to avoid a repeat of the problem.
“The authority should have given us and all other irrigation farmers three weeks’ notice before the commencement of the maintenance of the dam.
“But they did not tell us until after they had started the work and the closure had affected many tomato farms at Kura, Garunmalam, Bunkure and some other parts of Rano irrigation sites,” he said.
According to him, the unplanned and ill-timed closure of the dam has destroyed over 60 per cent of tomatoes planted by farmers in four local government areas of the state.
“They usually notify us before they shut the dam for routine maintenance so we can plan our planting season or make alternative plans, but this time around it was done arbitrarily without notifica-tion,” he said.
Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) President Sani Dangote expressed concern about the closure of Tiga Dam, saying it would adversely affect the production of tomatoes.
He said the closure of the dam would affect the nation’s quest to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of the commodity.
Also, Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association of Nigeria (FACAN) President, Dr. Victor Iyama, observed that the dam closure would affect small-scale tomato farmers in the North, noting that the shut dam could cause a lot of problems for tomato farmers.
Consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale, said the dam has been a major source of water supply to irrigation sites in Kano State and major farming communities around Kaduna State and its continued shut down has put the irrigation system in jeopardy.
Ogunwale, an agricultural extension specialist, said the suspension of water supply to farmers from the dam would, no doubt, negatively affect farming during the dry season, adding that the continuous closure of the dam will affect rice, onion and tomato production.
Ogunwale explained that farmers, who would be operating during the dry season farming, would face serious threat.
He warned that if the authorities failed to quickly address the issue, the aftermath would affect farm produce output, especially tomatoes.
Ogunwale has urged the government to rehabilitate dams across the country to boost food production and job creation.
Before now, shortage of water posed serious threat to irrigation farmers in Dantankari, Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina State. The tomato farmers rely on local wells dug on their farms as the source of watering the farmlands after their 40-year-old dam stopped reserving water.
Leader of the farmers, Alhaji Nasiru Barau, said tomato farmers were in a dilemma as many of the farm wells are drying up also on the eve of irrigation activities in the village. “Our farming activities run from the months of November to April, but this year seems to be different as our wells have dried up as early as this January.
“There is every likelihood that some of our farmers will record losses this year due to water shortage. The government should come to our aid and dredge our dam so that it can supply us with enough water for irrigation farming. This will touch the lives of every Dantankari man as there is at least, an irrigation farmer in every household, not to talk of the towns and cities we supply tomatoes yearly,” Alhaji Nasiru said.
He added that but for the water problem, tomato farmers in the village have good prospect this year as they are yet to encounter any pest attack compared to last year when tuta absoluta ravaged their tomato farms.
Tiga Dam was built in 1974 and supervised by Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority with the aim of improving food security through irrigation projects for farmers.
