FUGA Trains Local Famers On GBy Muhammad Maitela, Damaturu
A team of Researchers from Federal University Gashua (FUGA) led by the lead Researcher, Dr. Ibrahim Ahmed Jajere, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), has trained local farmers in Gashu’a of Yobe state, on the importance and role of greenhouse and Drip irrigation farming on the sustainable livelihood of rural families in north east.
The research covered three major components: Evaluation of Farmer’s socio-economic disposition, their knowledge and practices with regard to irrigation water and soil management, field research on water productivity and impact on soil quality using traditional and introduced irrigation scenarios and create greenhouse farming technology awareness as an alternative method to supplement outdoor growing of vegetables to adopt greenhouse farming to mitigate high input vegetable Production in the Yobe basin strengthening food security and sustainable livelihoods.
Prof. Jajere said the training is to raise awareness on the importance of irrigation farming that would improve water productivity, sustain the land and improve farm production to fight food insecurity in the region.
According to him the research was sponsored by World Bank in collaboration with MCRP and it will also build the capacity of many farmers on greenhouse technology which can be scaled-up in the post-project period for sustainable vegetable production and increase in income generation for enhanced livelihood of the local farmers in the region that is bedevilled by the activities of the insurgency for years.
In his paper titled: The Role of Greenhouse and Drip Irrigation farming on the Sustainable livelihood of Rural Families, Dr. Ishaku James Dantata, posited that greenhouse farming and vertical farming are becoming timely and important in fighting food security because of the continuous increase in population while the available land for farming is becoming scarce.
According to him, the primary purpose of a greenhouse is to create a manageable, controlled and favourable environment for plant growth, allowing farmers to extend the growing season, protect plants from pest, harsh weather conditions and optimize yields.
He said Drip irrigation is the most efficient method of delivering water and nutrients to greenhouse tunnel and with proper management of the drop system, there could be an over eighty percent water saving.
He added that drip irrigation is a sustainable irrigation technique used in all climatic zones of the world including very dry areas where water is highly scarce and get evaporated easily because of high atmospheric temperatures.
Dr. Ibrahim Alhassan, in his paper titled GREENHOUSE FARMING IN YOBE BASIN-A CASE STUDY, said that with drip irrigation system 10,000 -14,000 plants of tomato can be cultivated on on acre of farmland and this can compare to about 4,000 plant of tomatoes cultivated through the use of rain fed cultivation.
According to him, 8 weeks they harvested a total of 600kg of tomatoes using the greenhouse farming. Added that, regularly after every 4 to 5 days an average of 60- 70 kg of fresh tomato is being harvested.
Farmers who attended the 5 days training expressed their readiness to put in practice the knowledge acquired during the training and thanked the trainers for their efforts in bringing succour to them at this crucial time of the need to diversify farming by embracing modern farming techniques.
