The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has made significant strides in supporting Nigeria’s agricultural sector by irrigating over 24,000 hectares of farmland in 2023.
This achievement was highlighted in the recently released 2023 REA Capital Project Report. The Federal Government’s initiative to cultivate 500,000 hectares of irrigable land for dry-season farming, announced last year, underscores the nation’s commitment to enhancing food security.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utse, reiterated this commitment during the launch of the 2023 dry-season farming programme by the Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority in November.
With rising concerns over food security, the United Nations has projected that the number of people facing hunger in Nigeria could rise to 82 million by 2030. Contributing to this challenge, food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation reached 40.8 per cent in July 2024, accounting for 51.8 per cent of the overall headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
Experts attribute the soaring food prices to a combination of factors, including insecurity, climate change, and naira devaluation. Tobi Awolope, an agricultural economist at the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, identified climate change as the primary driver of Nigeria’s alarming hunger rate.
“Climate change has reversed progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2, which aim to eradicate poverty and hunger,” Awolope stated.
He called for government intervention to mitigate the effects of climate change on farmers, recommending subsidies for production inputs, technology assistance, and irrigation support to enhance their resilience and productivity.
To combat drought-related food insecurity, the REA implemented facilities to irrigate 24,000 hectares of farmland across the country.
The report also detailed the agency’s broader infrastructure expansion efforts, including the provision of a 330-kilowatt mini-grid, the installation of 15 mini-grids, over 2,461 new electricity connections, and the establishment of six electric vehicle charging stations in Adamawa, Enugu, Oyo, Kano, Delta, and the FCT.
In addition, the REA distributed 11,668 solar-powered irrigation pumps, installed 200 kWp, and trained over 500 farmers in the use of solar irrigation pumps.
However, the distribution of solar-powered pumps spanned across various regions, with the North West, South-South, North Central, North East, Southeast, and South West regions all benefiting from the initiative.