… commits N200 million to solar-powered irrigation for youth-led farm hubs

As part of ongoing efforts to revolutionize the agricultural sector and empower young farmers across Ekiti State, the State Government and Community Energy Social Enterprise Limited (CESEL), have partnered to start the deployment of Solar Irrigation facilities to youth farmers in the state.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Ebenezer Boluwade who made this known in Ado-Ekiti said the project has been approved by the State Governor Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji stressing that the Governor’s approval stemmed from the fact that the state is desirous to change the narrative on food production, to boost agricultural production and tackle food security crisis in the country

He said under the programme, both parties have agreed to a deal to start a pilot of the intervention in a few selected farming centres in the state as a proof of the concept.

The Commissioner also disclosed that the State Government has approved the sum of N200,000,000.00 for the construction of Modular Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems under the programme at selected farm hubs currently in use under the Bring Back Youths into Agriculture (BBYA) Programme.

He noted that the initiative forms a critical component of the State’s strategy to modernize agriculture, enhance productivity, and reduce dependence on rain-fed farming stressing that this pilot sites will be followed by a large-scale deployment of Solar Irrigation infrastructure under the proposed Productive Use of Energy (PUE) component of the World Bank and Rural Electrification Agency’s Distributed Access for the Renewable Energy Scale-Up in Nigeria (DARES).

According to Boluwade, the irrigation systems will tap into perennial water bodies located across the State, ensuring year-round farming activities and mitigating the risks associated with unpredictable weather patterns.

He explained that the solar-powered systems will be deployed to farm hubs in Ose Centre, Emure Local Government; Ado-Ekiti; Ikere and Aramoko, where clusters of youth-led agricultural activities are already thriving under the BBYA programme.

The Commissioner stressed that this latest initiative underscores the commitment of the State Government to youth empowerment and sustainable agricultural development, aligning with the broader agenda of national food security and economic diversification.

While stressing that crop failure as a result of unpredictable rainfall pattern had been experienced by a good number of farmers in the State in the last couple of years made the state government to take proactive steps to change the narrative by developing partnership with CESEL bringing their Irri-Go (Irrigation-As-A-Service) product to provide Solar Irrigation to farmers in the state.

In his remarks, the CEO of CESEL, Mr Patrick Tolani, emphasised that Ekiti became the first destination for the deployment of his company’s solar irrigation campaign in the southern part of Nigeria because of what he saw in Ekiti State during a comprehensive assessment visit to the state

He said cluster-based Solar Irrigation intervention of the company which had been deployed to some of the northern states in Nigeria through the support that from Propcom+ (delivered by Palladium International) had recororded huge successes

Dr Tolani maintained that the support system provided by Governor Oyebanji is top-notch stressing that the state has already identified and cleared farmlands for 13 cluster-based Youth Farming Centres across the state to engage interested youths as farmers at those centres.

While lauding the “Bring Back the Youth in Agriculture” programme of the state Government, the CESEL Boss said all these support systems which are not available in other states of the federation qualifies Ekiti State to become the Headquarters for Irri-Go in Nigeria consequent upon which CESEL has established the Irri-Go Headquarters in Ado-Ekiti.

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Dr Tolani further disclosed that CESEL, in partnership with some top academics from the University of Lincoln in the UK, will later this year travel to Brazil later with the support of Travel Grant from the UK Government to understudy some of the Climate-Smart Agricultural practices that the country has embraced delivering farming yields of about 800 per cent to the farmers.

According to him, this visit will happen on the back of the visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Brazil recently to lay the foundation for future sustainable partnerships between Nigerian institutions and operators in the agricultural sector in Brazil.