YOLA – The Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority (UBRBDA), Yola, on Monday expressed concern over underutilisation of dams constructed for irrigation purposes.
Alhaji Aliyu Jijiwa, the Managing Director of the authority, raised the alarm during an interview with [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola, Adamawa.
He, however, attributed the underutilisation to many obstacles, such as dearth of fund to manage the [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]dams.
Jijiwa pointed out that the dams were strategic to efforts towards boosting national food production.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
“We are not properly harnessing the potentials of our dams.
“The potentials derivable from the dams are not making impact because their capability are not being [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]
tapped on a full scale,’’ Jijiwa said.
According to him, the UBRBDA has 500 big and small earth dams under its control.
He lamented that rivers and dams under the authority had combined capacity to produce 55.5 billion cubic volume of water.
He said that the dams were designed to irrigate 495,000 hectares of land, supply water and generate electricity for Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states.
The general manager noted that works have not been completed on some of the dams, thus hindering the mandate of the authority in its coverage areas.
“If we can get all our dams and irrigation system fully operational, the authority can feed the entire country,’’ Jijiwa added.
He noted that only 10 per cent of the authority’s potentials were being used.
Jijiwa cited Dadin Kowa, Kiri, Wukari and Mararaban Donga dams in Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states, respectively, as examples of dams still being underutilised.
“If properly constructed and harnessed the dams can produce food that can feed the entire country and solve the problem of electricity supply,’’ he said.
Jijiwa highlighted some efforts being made by the UBRBDA to enhance dry season farming in the three states through provision of water pumps.
He said that the authority distributed 15,000 water pump machines to farmers in 2014. (NAN)
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