Kano farmers turn a valve for water, but earnings still uncertain

For years, farmers in Kumfada, in Garko Local Government Area of Kano State, saved up together to buy plastic sheets. The sheets caught just enough water to keep small plots alive after the rains, and a poor rainy season could end dry-season farming altogether.

Faruku Musa Haruna, one of those farmers, said the will to farm was always there. What was missing was the means. Today, he says, water comes to his field without a generator. He simply opens a valve and it flows.

That change comes from a federal project around three dams in the state: Tiga, Challawa Gorge and Kafin Chiri. The work covers irrigation repairs and expansion, erosion control, rural roads and farm support.

The Ecological Project Office, which sits under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is supervising the project under President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda. Contractors are handling the construction, while the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) provides technical advice to farmers.

What it means for farmers

Haruna now grows carrots, then onions, tomatoes and peppers on the same land. With steadier water, he hopes to try rice and wheat, crops he had ruled out because of shortages. He also says he no longer has to leave his community to look for work.

But water alone does not put money in a farmer's pocket. Seed, fertiliser, labour and transport still cost money, and the final price a buyer offers matters just as much. A bigger harvest and a better income are linked, but one does not guarantee the other.

Professor Lucky Osabuohien Omoigui, a plant breeding and genetics specialist at IITA's Kano station, said farmers must be taught to use the water well. He noted that some were at first reluctant to give up land for demonstration plots, which is understandable for households that depend on every harvest.

IITA says its work covers 16 local government areas. It reports 1,890 beneficiaries in all, including 501 smallholder farmers trained, with eight farmer field schools and 86 demonstration plots. Women make up 20 per cent of beneficiaries and 97 of the trained farmers.

Omoigui cautioned that results take time, saying the effect may show in two or three years. He also warned that growing cereals on the same field repeatedly can wear out the soil, and advised rotating cereals with legumes and managing fertiliser carefully.

Roads, drainage and who maintains the canals

Getting crops to market is the other half of the journey. Abdullahi Hamza, a farmer in Gana, said onions used to spoil on the way to Bakin-Fa when roads were bad. He said repairs have made it easier to move produce by motorcycle or car.

In Kwanar-Dangora, businesswoman Hafsat Yakubu said flooding once kept customers away from her street, and that better drainage has helped her business.

At Kafin Chiri, Jibril Muhammad Ibrahim, lead site engineer for ECL Construction Limited, said the main canal is finished while work continues on smaller distribution and field channels. He put rehabilitation of the embankment section at 80 per cent, a figure that does not cover the whole project.

Keeping water flowing will be a lasting job: clearing channels, repairing damaged structures and fixing faults quickly. The Hadejia Jama'are River Basin Development Authority has worked with water user associations and dam managers on operations and maintenance.

In Sumaila town, resident Ado Ibrahim recalled carrying household goods by hand because cars could not enter, until road and erosion-control works improved access.

For Haruna, the immediate gain is simple: water he can reach. Whether that turns into steady earnings will only be clear after several harvests.