Write a geographical account of irrigation farming in Nigeria under the following headings:
(a) Factors that favour the type of agriculture
(b) Major farming areas and associated crops
(c) Problems
Explanation
(a) Favourable Factors:
(i) Very high temperature
(ii) Dry areas (annual rainfall less than 75cm e.g Sokoto and Chad basin
(iii) Short wet saason (about 4 months)
(iv) Low humidity
(v) Development of large scale irrigation schemes e.g Tiga Dam, Kainji Dam
(vi) Presence of fertile alluvial soils e.g Niger basin
(b) Major farming areas and crops:
(i) Niger-Benu a river valley sugarcane, rice maize
(ii) Sokoto-Rima river valley rice, tobacco, cotton sweet potatoes, onion, groundnut
(iii) Chad basin wheat, millet, guinea corn, rice, cotton, onions,
(iv) Jebba and Kainja areas in the middle belt of Nigeria sugarcane rice:
(v) Gongola-Numan River Basin sugarcane rice, guinea corn etc.
(c) Problems:
(i) Flooding
(ii) Fluctuation in level of water
(iii) Displacement of settlements
(iv) Many dams disrupt normal flow of rivers
(iv) Possible accumulation of mineral salt e.g sodium