The South-West President of Tomato Grower Association of Nigeria, Mr Bamidele Ajani, has appealed to the Federal and Oyo state governments to revitalise the Ikere Gorge dam in Oyo state to boost farming.
Ajani made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.
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NAN reports that the Ikere Dam, Northeast of Iseyin, is a multipurpose Dam, along Ogun River covering an area of 47 square kilometre, holding 690 million cubic meter of water.
It has the capacity to generate between 3.75 to 6 GigaWatt (GW) of power.
According to Ajani, aside the power generation potential, a quarter of it can turn out 1 million tons of fish, if utilized for Aqua culture.
He added that this would reduce considerably the fish import and ease the burden on the local currency.
“It has the capacity to supply 82 million Cubic meter of water to adjoining towns, also 12,000 hectares of farm can get irrigated from this same dam.
“If the dam is adequately revamped, it will assist us to meet the target of producing 1,200 matric tons of tomato monthly.
“There is also the tourism aspect as well that could spin additional income for the community, state and the nation at large.
“There was a reason this project was conceived by the General Obasanjo regime in 1979 and started by the Shehu Shagari administration, it remains an important asset that should never be allowed to lie fallow,” he said.
