‘Our Dams Are Not Efficient’

The Chief Executive Of
ficer, High Hill Agric Business Development Centre, Adeniyi Sola Bunmi has said that dams in Nigeria are yet to be effectively and efficiently utilized.
According to a press release by AgroNigeria that was made available to The Tide yesterday in Port Harcourt, the MD said Nigeria was yet to get her priority right.
Bunmi, a certified agribusiness consultant, explained that for dams in the country to work effectively and efficiently, stakeholders needed total reorientation.
“Government need to actually understand the potentials of the dams and be ready to put in place all required equipment and manpower to actualise her current drive towards sustainable agricultural development”, he said.
He further  explained that new generation farmers in the country cannot afford to practise agriculture the way their forefathers did.
“We must recognise that agriculture is a very risky business”, he said.
Speaking on the need to irrigate farms, the agric consultant said reasons for irrigation are wide, varied and differ from situation to situation.
He said irrigation provides greater certainty with production than was possible with dry land farming even as he said it provides options for diversification or intensification that allows farmers to grow more vegetables, crops, pasture and increase livestock production.
“It allows farmers to maintain quality over a critical dry period. It also ensures that crops are not affected by moisture stress at critical growing times and provides greater opportunity to gain vegetables and crops response to fertiliser application faster”, he said.
He further noted that for irrigation to be sustainable, the benefit must increase income sufficiently to cover costs of development and provide an acceptable return on investment.