IWD 2017 celebrated by women maximizing profit and conserving water for irrigation

About 2400 women comprising 80 groups of 30 members each from 4 LGAs of Kano converged at the Yadakwari women Farmers demonstration to join millions of women around the world to celebrate the 2017 International Women’s Day (IWD) by making a crucial water management choice, which is set to change their lives for the better.

In line with the theme of this year’s celebration, which is BeBoldForChange, the women had chosen the occasion of the 2017 IWD to adopt and launch the use of a revolutionary irrigation technology introduced to them by WOFAN.

Speaking during the launch, Hajia Salamatu Garba, Executive Director and Founder of WOFAN, had disclosed that, “This is our translation of BeBold4Change. Our work adds value to farming across the entire chain as well as to mainstreaming gender and equity in environment issues.”

The new irrigation pump, which the women have named Sarkin Samar Da Kudin Shiga (meaning, Money Maker), is a high performance, foot operated water pump which does not require petrol or diesel to work. It is also easy to assemble and almost completely maintenance free.

These features make it pocket friendly for smallholder farmers, especially women, who are discouraged from all-season farming due to the high costs of operating and maintaining petrol water pumps.

Explaining why they decided to switch from the traditional irrigation pump to treadle pump, one of the women, Hajia Habiba Yadakwari said they were attracted to the new pump because of its simplicity.

“You don’t need spanners or any other tool to assemble or dismantle the Money Maker. This simplicity means that we can put the pump together without help. Then, the operation is so easy. You just climb the treadle; start riding like a bicycle and your farm is irrigated. Even our children can operate it. This is why we have decided to switch to this new pump”, Hajia Habiba said.

Also speaking, Hajia Gambo Auwalu, a rice farmer, explained that most women in her community grow rice and vegetables during the dry season but many of them had to stop due to the high cost of petrol and constant breakdown of their pumps.

She said, “But with the new pump, we can farm all year round. You know, rice needs a lot of water. But with this pump, we don’t need to buy petrol and we don’t need to take it for repairs. This is good for us because it means that even if we cannot afford it individually, we can buy it as a group and share it without fear of maintenance issues.

“And, considering the fact that today is International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to us, it is a happy occasion to adopt it to change our situation for the better. With this pump, cost of dry season farming will reduce by at least half. This makes it easier for us to farm and make more money.”

On her part, Hajia Hamma Hatimu disclosed that the new irrigation pump has many advantages over the motorised pump. She said it is safer; even children can operate it.

According to her, “It is difficult to leave the petrol pump in the care of children because of fear of accidents or damage. But with this irrigation pump, there are no such fears. Small children can operate it and we have seen that it is very strong.

“I also saw that the pump works even where petrol pumps cannot work. Today for example, the water flow from our irrigation channel was very low. So, all the farmers with electric pumps had to wait. But when we brought our own pump, we just started pumping from the channel. And, with little effort, the amount of water we got was amazing.”

“Today, we have changed our irrigation system and we are going to grow our wealth with this change.”