Dry season presents an average Nigerian farmer with lots of challenges. From the cost of involved in getting water to the farm to the stress of having to water plants manually, it could serve as a deterrent to any potential farmer intending to go into agriculture.

To the persistent farmer who decides to muscle it out, he/she usually suffers low yield and productivity. Climate in Nigeria is largely unpredictable, some farm lands receive yearly a rainfall of about 20 inches, sometimes less. Other farm lands in northern Nigeria are the worst it, with most of them suffering the effects of rampaging desertification.

Desertification, a process by which fertile farm land becomes desert is becoming paramount in Northern Nigeria, with an average of 55% of land mass lost to the desert, almost 350,000 hectares of land which can be used for farming becomes part of the desert yearly.

Currently 75 million hectare of land in the north have been taken over by the desert. This trend is affecting states such as Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states. It should be noted that these states are important for planting of groundnut, yams e.t.c It is expected that constant farming through irrigation would help encourage planting of crops and application of nutrients through fertilizers to soil which could end desertification.


Other parts of the country are not left out of the effects of climate change, in most parts rainy season comes late, at other times it ends early, at other times it comes short and heavy leading to floods.
Climate conditions cannot be predicted and its important that farmers take the conditioning of moisture on their farms seriously, in other to avoid huge loss and low productivity.

Irrigation is a process where water and nutrients are applied to fields lacking moisture. It is a manual process by which farmers can apply water to their soil in amount which suit crops they plant, without depending on rains.


There are various types of irrigation systems, among them are;

Rain Gun: just as the name implies, it has a functionality that resembles rain. Water falls through the air dissolving nitrogen in the air and applying it in the soil. This adds nutritive value to the soil.
This system is cheap, with the farmer not needing to spend money on pipes. and can be set up with approximately #50,000. Although it requires a large water source and manual labour.

Drip Irrigation; This system allows water to drip and drop from pipes running all around the farm, it helps to conserve water and properly pass moisture to soil thereby boosting harvest.
With drip irrigation quality of products is increased as soil effectively absorbs nutrients, it requires little or no manual labour after installation.
Its main disadvantage is that it can be expensive to install although its benefits may over weight this disadvantage.

Irrigation is especially advised for planting crops of a vegetative nature, crops such as Ugwu, pepper, vegetables are very profitable during dry seasons in Nigeria, yet command a huge amount of water and nutrients. Water can be sourced by delivering with a tank or through a ready made bore hole at the farm.

Storage facilities should also be provided depending on the amount of water a farmer needs and availability of water. A farmer should consult other farmers to get information extensively about best methods to implement irrigation in the farmers location

With an all year round farming and plentiful yield a farmer is assured of productivity from his farm. This can be achieved through a good irrigation system.

Probity Farms software is designed to help farmers keep track of all farming activities on your farms. with probity software a farmer can set tasks for for irrigation, getting alerts on when irrigation is due from whichever location. Utilize our farming software to achieve increased productivity and yield.

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