Farmers in about 10 states are benefiting from the Watari Water Reservoir being rehabilitated by the Kano government. According to the project manager, Mohammed Tijjani-Kwa, the farmers include those in Kano and the neighbouring Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna.

The project is being rehabilitated in collaboration with the federal government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda Programme.

Mr Tijjani-Kwa explained that the farmers from the other states have been hiring land from their colleagues in Bagwai town for farming.

He added, ”Alongside their hosts, they are planting crops such as onions, guinea corn, lettuce, rice and cucumber, which the water from the reservoir under rehabilitation.”

The project manager said this while conducting journalists round the multi-billion naira reservoir project, which he said waters 917 hectares of land.

According to the project manager, about 25,000 farmers benefit from the reservoir, and their farming activities around the facility have changed their lives.

Mr Tijjani-Kwa added, “This is because they produce crops worth millions of naira that enable them to take care of their basic needs and those of their loved ones.”

Also speaking, the chairman of Watari Water Project Farmers Association, Ibrahim Sani, said the provision of the reservoir had checked the migration of people from the area to other parts of the country.

“Before the coming of this reservoir, our people, especially youths, were migrating to other parts of the country, particularly Southern Nigeria, in search of jobs, but now the trend has stopped,” Mr Sani said.

He commended Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf for the actualisation of the facility, which he also said had changed the people’s lives.

The chairman appealed to the state government to support the farmers with agricultural implements and inputs such as seeds and fertilisers.

According to him, such assistance will boost their productivity and further enhance the area’s economy. 

(NAN)