Assessment of the Viability of Irrigation Projects within the Sokoto Rima River Basin, Nigeria

Abstract

Irrigation projects in Nigeria have been established to compliment rain fed agriculture by providing water for continuous cultivation of agricultural land during the dry season for national food security, self-sufficiency and to alleviate poverty among small scale farmers. The Sokoto-Rima River Basin irrigation project was one of the projects established in the 1980s by the Nigerian government to play these roles. This study carried out an assessment on the viability of irrigation projects in 2016/2017 irrigation season within the Sokoto Rima River Basin in specific areas which include: Middle Rima Valley (MR), Shagari (SHG), Zauro Polder (ZP), Jibiya (JBY), and Zobe (ZB). The data sets collected were transformed into descriptive statistics such as averages, percentages, charts and tables, in order to depict a brief information of the population under study. The findings revealed that about 89% of the farmers within the scheme practice irrigation farming and are resident; the number of farmers in the scheme is below the expected baseline (ranging from 97.3 to 30%) for all the schemes under study; under-utilized proposed irrigation area (average area cultivated in all the selected projects ranged between 30% and 40% of the total irrigation area); poor participation of active young people as average ages of farmers in all the schemes ranges between 45 and 51 years; single season irrigation farming is practiced more; ineffectiveness of extension services and water users association reduces the farmers’ potentials; poor accessibility to farm inputs and credit facilities; high and varying land charges per hectare (ranged between ₦ 5,000 to ₦ 27,666) and irregular and inconsistent water charges which are supposed to be the funding source for sustainable irrigation projects were established. Although irrigation farming is profitable in the project area with the cost benefit ratio ranged between 36% to 182.3%, but other indicators shows that the viability of the project is limited as the irrigation project could not be self-sustaining due to under cultivation of the proposed irrigation land which is meant to generate revenue from land rent and water charges for its sustainability as one of the core objectives of the National Irrigation Policy (NIPS) to stabilize the public irrigation sector and transfer operation and maintenance (O&M) to the beneficiaries/private sector and government to consolidate existing investments in the basin and rehabilitate those schemes found to be viable. It is therefore recommended that government should rehabilitate those schemes found not to be viable by taking full control of the irrigation farm lands, harmonize charges in the schemes, encourage multiple season irrigation and also encourage youth to participate in farming through the provision of loan/credit facilities.