An expert in Agricultural Extension and Management in Maiduguri, Mohammed Salisu has expressed sadness at how corruption in the irrigation sector is affecting the growth of the programme in the northeast region.

He said that the government is spending a huge amounts of money on irrigation farming in its effort to boost agriculture in the country but that due to corruption in the system, the country cannot feed its population.

He added that government is providing the necessary tools needed to enable farmers to farm well, but the real farmer can hardly benefit from these tools.

Corruption, he went on to say, should be fought by the government to make sure fertilizers, generators, water pumps and improved seeds meant for irrigation farming reaches the farmers at the local level.

Zara Mohammed, a farmer says that many women are interested in irrigation farming, but they need government support. She told our reporter that she embraced irrigation farming to support her husband and children as the country faces economic challenges.

But she stressed that government officials have taken their names many times in the name of assisting them, but that they are yet to benefit from any of the initiatives.

Babagana Ali who is also an irrigation farmer called on the government to rehabilitate the abandoned dams to boost irrigation farming in the country and the northeast region in particular.