Dam dredging boosts tomato production in Tafoki

Irrigation farmers in Tafoki, Faskari LGA of Katsina State have expanded the volume of their tomato production after the dredging of their irrigation dam by the state government. Last year, farmers in the area expressed concern on how the small dam they were using could not sustain them up to April considering the large irrigation […]

Irrigation farmers in Tafoki, Faskari LGA of Katsina State have expanded the volume of their tomato production after the dredging of their irrigation dam by the state government.

Last year, farmers in the area expressed concern on how the small dam they were using could not sustain them up to April considering the large irrigation fields they were cultivating; a situation that forced them to staggerthe planting of their crops to meet the demand for water at a time.

One of the farmers, Aiman Saleh, 44, said since last year they have been recording significant improvement after the dredging of the irrigation dam.

“We have recorded significant success in tomato farming, even at the low price of N1,300 per big basket. We expanded our irrigation fields considering the improvement on the water supply and so far we have not sold it beyond N1,000.If a farmer sells his tomato from N1,000 upward no doubt he will make some profit out of it,” said Saleh.

He added that besides the dredging of the dam about two years ago, last year the state government rehabilitated the water channels of the dam which helped in reserving enough water for irrigation.

Another farmer, AshiruShafi’u, expressed the urgent need for the fortification of the dam’s bank to secure the water no matter the magnitude of rainfall.

“Last year we experienced heavy downpour and it has threatened the narrow barrier of the dam and this calls for urgent attention before the next rainy season otherwise all the successes recorded in the rehabilitation of the dam will go down the drain,” said Shafi’u.

He added that the market price of tomato remained relatively high until recently because rainfall has damaged the first phase of tomato farms creating some scarcity of the produce.

“The first phase of irrigated tomato was planted October to November and a number of the farms were damaged by late rainfall which affected the supply chain in the market. This stabilizes the price of the products within the range of N3,000 to N5,000 until recently when it came down to N1,300,” Shafi’u explained.