25,000 Farmers Benefit From Kano’s Multi-billion Naira Water Reservoir
By Abdullahi Yusuf
About 25,000 farmers are benefiting from the multi-billion Naira Watari Water Reservoir currently being rehabilitated by the Kano State Government in collaboration with the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda Programme(ATAP).
The farmers come from about ten States in the federation, including Kano itself, and the neighbouring states of Katsina,Jigawa and Kaduna.
The Project Manager, Mohammed Tijjani Kwa, disclosed this while conducting journalists round the reservoir on Sunday.
According to Kwa,the reservoir waters 917 hectares of land on which the farmers conduct their agriculture activities.
He said the farmers who come from the neighbouring states hire the lands from their colleagues in Bagwai town and plant crops such as onions,guinea corn,lettuce,rice and cucumber, which they water from the reservoir, alongside their hosts.
“Around this reservoir,they plant economic crops such as rice, vegetables,onions and tomatoes which fetch them huge financial gains,” he said.
This, the project manager said,has changed their lives,as they can now afford valuables with which to enhance their well being.
Also speaking,the Chairman of Watari Water Project Farmers Association, Ibrahim Sani,said the facility had checked migration of people from the area to other parts of the country.
“Before the coming of this reservoir,our people, especially the youths, were migrating to other parts of the country, particularly Southern Nigeria,in search of jobs,but now the trend has stopped,” Sani said.
He commended Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf for the actualization of the reservoir which he also confirmed,had changed the lives of the people of the area.
“We invite the governor to come to Bagwai town and see for himself how this reservoir has changed our lives for the better,as our people are now gainfully employed,” he said.
The chairman, however,appealed to the State Government to support the farmers with agriculture inputs and implements such as seeds, fertilizers and tractors.
According to him,such assistance will enable them to boost their productivity and further enhance the economy of the area.
