PPP, key to revival of river basins
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has been identified as the key to unlock the full agricultural potentials of the river basins in Nigeria, with the capacity to create millions of jobs.
The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), quoting report of a working document prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on the “Need and Justification of Irrigation Development,” said a projected population of 238 million was assumed for Nigeria in 2025, and 47.90 million hectares of potential rain-fed land and at least 2 million to 3.73 million hectares of potential irrigable land.
But recent report shows that only one million hectares of land is under irrigation in Nigeria.
With public private partnerships in river basins development, Nigeria has the possibility of adding another 1 million hectares of irrigable land to attain the minimum 2 million hectares.
According to experts, the involvement of the private sector should not be the full commercialisation of the river basins, but in areas that would lead to greater efficiency with the government giving them access to infrastructure, land and water resources of the river basins.
“These river basins were set up with the plan of handing them over to networks of farmers using the land,” said an industry worker, who does not want his name to be mentioned in print.
“This has not been implemented even more than 30 years after establishment, and that this may not be unrelated to the fact that allocations are provided by the federal government for the running of these River Basin Development Authorities annually and there are government officials who will continue to oppose the handing over of the RBDAs to the private sector,” he said.
For Nigeria to boost its food production, create million of jobs and businesses, analysts have called on the federal government to revive the country river basins through partnerships with the private sector so that farmers can engage in all year farming.
The constant supply of water to the farms throughout the year irrespective of the weather conditions, increase farmers productivity and improve livelihoods of rural communities.
Nigeria currently has 11 River Basins Development Authorities (RBDAs) that are operational.
“I started farming business three years ago with N180, 000. Irrigation farming is a good idea, giving opportunity to Nigerians to do off-season farming with little capital investment. The facilities belong to the government and even though we pay an amount, the government subsidises it,” said Segun Adenigbagbe, a graduate of accounting who runs a farming business at one of the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs).
Adenigbagbe said: “there are times when our crops are not irrigated because there is no diesel for the sprinkler. Currently, the crops have not been irrigated in a week, something that should be watered daily but we understand that the scarcity of funds is not from the officials of the RBDA.”
If Nigeria would attain food sufficiency, become a power house in food production and diversify the economy away from oil, all- year farming must be encouraged and facilities to achieve them must be created.
Recently, Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, warned that Nigerians were at the risk of starving to death by 2050 if nothing was done to ensure all-year-round farming.
“We have written to state governments to encourage them to develop dams and canals so that agriculture becomes an all-year-round activity and it is not confined to the rainy season alone,” Ogbeh said during the 2016 budget proposal of his ministry before the joint Committee on Agriculture.
“Four or five months of farm activity cannot sustain the country for 12 months. Besides, by 2050, Nigeria’s population will be very close to 500 million, going by the current rate of growth,” he adds.
Josephine Okojie