The Federal Government says it is dedicated to extending irrigation projects and reactivating dormant initiatives to improve food security in the country.
Prof. Joseph Utsev, Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, stated this during a familiarisation tour to the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority facilities in Agbala, near Owerri, on Wednesday.
Utsev stated that his ministry was looking into new ways and techniques of revitalizing the Lower Anambra Irrigation Project (LAIP), the largest rice irrigation project in the South-East.
He stated that LAIP has enormous potential in the zone for food security, wealth growth, poverty reduction, and employment creation.
“In order to revitalize the River Basin Development Authorities, the Federal Government has approved the partial commercialization of the 12 River Basin Development Authorities towards making them sustainable and commercially viable,” he said.
The minister urged respectable investors to increase their investments in the water industry, stating that President Bola Tinubu’s administration was resolved to cultivate 500,000 hectares of irrigable land.
He also stated that the ministry was carrying out water management and irrigation projects in order to ensure steady and enhanced food production to feed the nation.