AFAN wants FG to rehabilitate river basins

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has urged the Federal Government to rehabilitate the nation’s river basins, to address the irrigation challenges facing farmers.

AFAN’s Chairman, Lagos State and South-West Zone, Dr Femi Oke, lamented on Tuesday in Lagos that facilities in the river basins had dilapidated.

Oke called for the immediate rehabilitation of the facilities to aid farming activities through irrigation.

“The Ogun-Osun River Basin is still there, but needs rehabilitation to make it functional. They can still refurbish it just like the Federal Institute of Research, Oshodi (FIRO), some years back.

“FIRO was almost abandoned when former President Olusegun Obasanjo came in, he visited the place and that is why we are hearing about FIRO today.

“How many of our research institutes are very functional now? It is still the same problem with the river basins.

“Let the government come in, let them see the state of these river basin facilities, put them in shape and make them functional again for irrigation purposes,” Oke said.

The AFAN chairman urged the government to release funds for the rehabilitation, noting that irrigation systems were too expensive for small holder farmers to handle.

“The northern part of the country has already keyed into irrigation; we urge our South-West governors to do same, to avoid looming shortage or scarcity of food.

“The governors in the south-west too must embrace agriculture, collaborate with AFAN, as well as increase the budgetary allocation for the sector to improve food security,” he said.

Supreme reports that some of the river basins across the country include: Benin-Owena, Delta, Cross River, Imo-Anambra, Hadejia-Jama'are, Sokoto-Rima, Upper Niger, Ogun-Osun, Lower Niger, among others.