How irrigation is empowering vegetable farmers on the Plateau

Located in North-Central Nigeria bordering Bauchi, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Taraba states, Plateau State with its cold weather has huge potentials for vegetable farming.A well-known mining state, its land is dotted with colonial mining ponds with dam water that farmers use in irrigating their farms across many local governments in the state.Daily Trust visited Barkin Ladi, […]

Located in North-Central Nigeria bordering Bauchi, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Taraba states, Plateau State with its cold weather has huge potentials for vegetable farming.
A well-known mining state, its land is dotted with colonial mining ponds with dam water that farmers use in irrigating their farms across many local governments in the state.
Daily Trust visited Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Jos North and Jos South LGAs and saw young people including women making money from irrigation activities in the state; although inadequate markets to sell their produce remain a serious challenge that reduces their incomes.
At Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, irrigation farmers are taking advantage of the water at various mining ponds and streams that meander through the local government headquarters and other places to cultivate tomatoes, garden eggs, cabbage, carrots, onions and Irish potatoes.
In one of the sites along Barkin Ladi-Bokkos road, young men and women were seen working in their farms  – harvesting, weeding or applying water to their vegetables and crops.
Sunday Dung, 26,  a student of the Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi, along with his mother own about three hectares of land. They use one hectare for pepper and tomatoes and two for Irish potatoes.
He told Daily Trust that irrigation activities have empowered many families in the area but lamented the poor prices many marketers offer them for a basket of tomatoes and a bag of Irish potatoes.
“At times we sell a basket of tomatoes at N250 to them and a 50 kilogramme bag of Irish potatoes for N3,000. But you see these produce fetch better prices in the West where they sell for between N8,000 a basket of tomatoes and N22,000 for a 50kg-bag of Irish potatoes,”  Sunday said.
Dung wants the local, state and federal governments to resuscitate the cottage industries or at least revamp the comatose marketing board that will help the local farmers have access to good market for their produce. “That way, you can get good money for whatever crop you cultivate,” he pointed out.
But Yakubu Mohammed, 34, who is a tomato farmer in the area, adopts different method of selling his produce. He harvests over 100 baskets of tomatoes from his farm but instead of selling to marketers, who they often have to beg before buying at lower prices, he transports his to Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, where he sells them  for between N7,500 and N8,000 per basket.
“I have decided to sell mine in Port Harcourt because it is better sold there than here. We are just working for them here, so I decided to take the risk to sell mine in Port Harcourt where it gives better money,” Mohammed said while loading his product into a J-5 vehicle.
Sadiq Ibrahim who also owns a vegetable farm near one of the mining ponds said irrigation farming is rewarding except for the poor prices during glut, adding however that “no matter what, it is better than doing nothing.”
All the farmers spoken to, particularly in Barkin Ladi, stressed that they need a dam to provide the water they require for irrigation, adding that they spend huge sums of money to get water when the mining ponds and streams dry up. Some of them have to dig boreholes to get water for their farms.
A similar situation is noted in Bokkos local government which is home to many potato farmers without a dedicated irrigation site. But farmers seize the opportunity provided by the mining ponds and streams to cultivate potatoes.
A large number of these potato farmers are women who see farming as a means of generating income for their families. Some of them who spoke to our reporters believe that linking them to better market will better for their lot. According to them, the current price of potatoes which goes for between N3,000 and N3,500 does not give them what they deserve.
Same thing in Jos South local government particularly in areas like Zawan, where vegetable farmers – most of them young men and women – also convert every place that gathers water to an irrigation site for farming vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, pepper, green beans among others.
With huge potentials that abound in the state, Plateau offers unique opportunity for young people, especially given the need to support them to generate good income for themselves and create a vibrant economy around agriculture in the state.