Farmers, river basin authority bicker over dam closure
From Haruna Gimba Yaya, Kano
Farmers and officials at the Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority (HJRBDA) were locked in bitter dispute over the closure of Tiga dam, which is the only source of water for irrigation in southern part of Kano State.
While the farmers accused the HJRBDA of closing the dam without prior notice given to them, officials at HJRBDA maintained that the closure was for the benefits of the farmers. It stated that it was routine exercise to close the dam, annually, for maintenance work to be carried.
Hundreds of farmers in villages near the river banks in southern part of the state had cried over their lost, caused by the closing of the dam by the HJRBDA officials.
The farmers claimed to have lost produce worth millions of naira due to the development, which they said, had led to the drying of their farms because of lack of water.
Officials at the river basin said the dam was shut for 21 days to carry out maintenance work, but farmers in the area blamed the authorities for not informing them prior to the shutting of the dam.
Malam Alhassan, a cucumber farmer at Imawa village of Kura Local Government Area said his cucumber farm was destroyed because of the shutting of the dam, adding: “When I planted the seed, people passed my farm in admiration of the cucumber plants, but now all my efforts are in vain. Because of the closing of the dam, the cucumber has dried.
“I spent over N20, 000 on the farm and had it been the water was not stopped, I was hoping to get over N200, 000. Since I started farming years ago, I never recorded lost like this year.”
A pepper farmer, Sulaiman Dahiru, said the closing of the dam has discouraged him from farming, saying: “I watched helplessly as my farm produce dried off due to lack of water. I put over N200, 000 in the farm with the hope of getting over N2 million at the end of the farming season.
“With the lost that I suffered this year, now I have lost hope in farming, in fact, I don’t think I will ever spend my money and my time in farming again.”
However, the Public Relations Officer of HJRBDA, Salisu Baba Hamzat, refutes the claims being made by the farmers that the dam was closed without their knowledge.
He said: “I heard their claim on radio and I want to say it is not true. What happened was that we contacted the farmers under the auspices of Water Users Association and informed them of our intention to close the dam to carry out a maintenance work, which is a routine work been done annually, after every raining season.
“It is our policy that at the end of every raining season we will close down the dam and carry out maintenance work at the dam. What happened this time was, we had a delay from the contractors handling the project. Some farmers went ahead to start farming before the repair work started.”