Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Friday launched the multi-billion dollar Kano River Irrigation Project (KRIS) in the Bunkure Council Area in Kano State, which will benefit at least one million lives.
The KRIS program is part of a project to transform irrigation management in Nigeria, according to a statement by Raol Akande, Senior Special Assistant for Media and Public Affairs, Office of the Vice President.
Osinbajo praised the project, saying-
“the Project is an innovative approach adopted by the Federal Government, which has opened access to life-changing opportunities for the farming communities that are involved with the Project.
“The Project also serves as a vehicle to effectively harness the potential of vast water resources infrastructure. Some of these structures were built well over 40 years ago. However, they have largely remained either unutilised or grossly underutilised.
“The main beneficiaries of the Project include basin stakeholders, irrigation and drainage entities, water users’ associations, farmers, and rural dwellers in the Project areas. Through direct infrastructure investments covering about 37,500 hectares across six states, concurrent activities in agriculture, and on-farm water management in these areas, approximately 140,000 farm families with about 1 million people are directly benefiting.”
The Vice President further said the event underscored the Buhari administration’s commitment to transforming the situation. Particularly for the people in the country’s breadbasket state.
He said such water resource optimization would revolutionize the local agricultural economy and ultimately improve food security for Nigerians.
According to the Vice President-
“the practical advantages of unshackling our farmers from the constraints of rain-fed farming and boosting their capacity for year-round farming cannot be understated. This is precisely what we are doing through this project.”
Regarding the goals of the Transformation of Irrigation Management in Nigeria project, the Vice President said –
“it is essential to enhance the productivity of 140,000 farmers within and near the following four rehabilitated irrigation schemes in Northern Nigeria: Bakolori Irrigation Scheme in Zamfara State, Middle Rima Irrigation Scheme in Sokoto State, Kano River Irrigation Scheme and Hadejia Valley Irrigation Scheme in Jigawa state.
cc: The Nations Ng
