Residents of Auyo local government area of Jigawa State have expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari over the commissioning of a N17 billion Hadejia Valley Irrigation Scheme in Auyo. The water project was started by the then Shehu Shagari led administration.
The irrigation scheme consists of a barrage with a storage capacity of 11.4 million cubic meters of water with its input coming from the water released from the upstream Challawa and Tiga Dams into the river system Its potential irrigable area is 25,000 hectares.
It is a gravity irrigation system with north and south main canals. The north main canal, which is completed and operational, is about 27km long, covering 12,500 and 5,300 hectares. The identified rehabilitation and expansion needs of the project are being addressed under the TRIMING Project.
The federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources under the Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING), supported by the World Bank resuscitated and rehabilitated the Hadejia Irrigation scheme, aimed at ameliorating the plight of farmers in the rural communities.
While commissioning the scheme, Buhari charged the residents to ensure proper maintenance for its sustainability.
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria, (AFAN) Jigawa State chapter President, Auwalu Garba Ibrahim who spoke to journalists at the sideline of the commissioning hailed president Buhari for the project, saying it was a historic one and would be of great benefits to farmers.
He said with the intervention of transforming the Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING) project, it has now become available and a resourceful project.
Garba said TRIMING had in an effort to enhance sustainability of the project have trained the Water Users Association (WUA), headed by Garba suileman.
The minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu, assured that all necessary arrangements have been put in place to ensure the sustainability of the project.
“This project is sustainable, guaranteed, because all that is required for irrigation practice to be sustainable has been brought into its rehabilitation and expansion. Farmers have been brought into the driving seat.
“They are going to own the scheme; at the tertiary level, they will operate and maintain the system. They will no longer wait for the government to come and maintain the system for them. Farmers are going to employ their own workers and pay them. They are going to ensure that all that has been installed here are well maintained and sustained.”
The National Project Coordinator of TRIMING Project, Engr. Peter Yakubu Manjok stated that the Hadejia Valley Irrigation Scheme (HVIS) took the contractors about four and half years to complete.
