Impacts of Bakalori Irrigation Scheme on Socio-economic Development of the Communities in Zamfara State, Nigeria

Abstract

For a long time, irrigation projects have been considered a way to end the nation's and the community's cycle of poverty. The goal of the current study is to examine the socioeconomic effects of an irrigation plan utilizing the Bakalori Dam in three local government areas in Zamfara State: Talata Mafara, Bakura, and Maradun. A reconnaissance survey was utilized to identify the areas of interest, and then the agripreneurs were given questionnaires based on random sampling. The questionnaires covered the following topics: the education and occupation of the household, assets and investments, ownership of livestock, infrastructure accessibility, and finally, the challenges faced by farmers when implementing irrigation schemes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and the outcome demonstrates that the irrigation scheme has improved the socioeconomic growth of the communities, particularly for the agribusiness owners. However, in order to increase agricultural productivity and accelerate farmers' annual income per capital, the government must make improvements in the following areas: farm mechanization, veterinary services, and input supply.