The Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, on Friday called for the establishment of large-scale irrigation farms to address food insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin.
The governor made the call during a panel discussion titled: “Ensuring Food Security through Building Resilience of Food Systems in the Lake Chad Basin Region,” at the ongoing 5th Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum in Maiduguri.
Also in the panel are the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, and Country Director of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Nigeria, Koffy Dominique Kouacou.
The governor stressed the importance of collaboration between regional governors, critical partners, and the United Nations to establish irrigation farms to be managed by agricultural experts.
He said the reliance on rainfed and subsistence farming practices is no longer sustainable and called for research into climate-resilient crops and farming techniques to ensure food affordability and sufficiency.
Zulum said: “We need to invest in irrigation. Irrigated agriculture is the only solution. Unfortunately, our investment in irrigated agriculture is very low. We have vast fertile land. Borno State alone has a total land mass of 72,000 square kilometre, out of this, over 70% is arable land.
“There is increasing population growth while our food production is going down because of over-dependence on rainfall.
“What we need to see through this forum is how the region will establish larger irrigation farms that can be operated either by surface irrigation or drip irrigation systems that will ensure sufficient utilisation of the limited water resources.”
