Bakolori Dam
12°30′43″N 6°11′00″E / 12.51194°N 6.18333°E
The Bakolori Dam is in Sokoto State in the Northwest of Nigeria, completed in 1978 and filled by 1981. It is a major reservoir on the Sokoto River, a tributary of the Rima River, which in turn feeds the Niger River. Water from the dam supplies the Bakolori Irrigation Project.[1] The dam has a capacity of 450 million cubic meters, with a reservoir covering 8,000 hectares extending 199 km upstream.[2] The dam construction project displaced many peasant farmers without providing alternative land or financial compensation. Many people died in protests over their loss of livelihood.[3] The project has become known as a classic example of development failure.[4]
Background
The Sokoto River runs through the semi-arid Sudan Savannah zone of northern Nigeria. Annual rainfall is unpredictable, ranging from 500mm to 1,300mm per year during the June-September period. Before construction of the dam, about 50,000 farmers in the Sokoto River floodplain practiced intensive recession farming, growing rice and sorgum in the wet season and vegetable crops such as onions, garlic and tomatoes in the dry season.[1] Many farmers used the Shadoof practice of lifting water from the river to pour into irrigation channels or ponds. Women in purdah do not usually work the fields, but have ownership rights and assist in processing, while women who are not under seclusion are active in farming.[2] Often the land was owned communally, without formal records of ownership.[1]
Farmers in the area, living at subsistence levels, were more concerned with avoiding risk than maximizing profit. The area is subject to periodic droughts, and the desire for a stable water supply was one of the motives for constructing the dam.[1]
Planning
In 1969 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a report that recommended a small dam and irrigation scheme at Talata Mafara, with further upstream dams for flood control. The FAO report emphasized the importance of a gradual approach that would have minimal impact on existing land use patterns, in part because of lack of experience with irrigation projects in the region. In 1971 the Nigerian military government invited proposals for design and supervision of the project, and in 1972 awarded the job to Impresit Bakolori Nigeria,a company owned 60% by the Nigerian government and 40% by a subsidiary of FIAT. During the 1972-1974 study period the scope of the project expanded to cover a single large dam and a large-scale mechanized irrigation scheme. Local farmers were not consulted in the planning process, and no study was made of the downstream impact.[1]
Construction
Construction of the dam began in 1974 and was completed in 1978, after which it took three years for the reservoir to fill. The dam includes a 5.5 km earth-fill structure, and a central concrete structure 360 m long and 48 m high, with a small 3MW hydroelectric power plant. The irrigation canals and pipes were not completed until 1983, and covered only 23,000 hectares compared to 30,000 hectares originally planned. Later, the irrigation system was converted to 15,000 hectares with water delivered by sprinklers and 8,000 hectares delivered by gravity. The sprinklers are expensive, but make more efficient use of water if well maintained. In fact, the irrigation project ended up as the most expensive per hectare in the world.[1]
Downstream impact
The dam reduced the total amount of water available for farming, since a large sheet of water in a hot and arid area loses much to evaporation. The downstream floodplain farmers required large-scale water release before the growing season. The dam operators were not sensitive to this requirement, releasing insufficient water at inappropriate times and thus making downstream farm productivity yet more uncertain.[2] The dam halved the average depth, duration and extent of flooding in downstream areas. In these areas, of a total of 19,000 hectares of floodplain land, the dam resulted in loss of 7,000 hectares of rice production and 5,000 hectares of dry season crops. This loss was partially offset by some increases in lower-value millet and sorghum production, but 12,000 people were forced to move.[5]
Reservoir and irrigation area
The reservoir has a relatively small littoral area, which limits spawning and nursery areas of most of fish species. The water is turbulent, holding suspended soil particles. This limits the capacity of the reservoir for fish production, which is low compared to other water bodies in the area. A 1982 study also indicated over-fishing.[6]
Construction of the dam, with land leveling, clearing and canal construction destroyed valuable farmland and trees. The local farmers became landless peasants. Most received no compensation, or were given worthless land. Those that stayed were forced to grow unfamiliar crops such as wheat.[2] During construction. the local farmers were deprived of the means to make a living for several years. Confronted by demonstrators in November 1979, the governor of Sokoto State, Shehu Kangiwa, promised to address all their grievances. However, on 28 April 1980 police moved in on unarmed demonstrators and killed over 380 people. The government played down the incident, claiming only 25 had died.[3]
Within the irrigation area, the higher water table in the irrigation area combined with high evaporation rates has caused salinization, which has already ruined half of the irrigable land. There were also higher levels of water-born diseases.[2] Attempts to introduce new varieties of cowpea inter-cropped with millet, sorghum and groundnuts had little success due to the relatively low yield of this traditional crop and the high cost of the irrigation systems.[7] By 2003, the sprinkler system was no longer operational and only 7,500 hectares were being cultivated, mostly for rice, using gravity-fed irrigation.[8] Land was left waste. Many drifted away to the cities.[1] The Bakolori Dam resulted in a 53% decrease in the usable cropped area.[9]
The authors of a classic report on Wise use of wetlands published by UNESCO concluded that "a more complete economic appraisal of the scheme at Bakolori would have been less favourable than the calculation upon which it was approved."[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Akané Hartenbach and Jürgen Schuol (October 2005). "Bakolori Dam and Bakolori Irrigation Project – Sokoto River, Nigeria" (PDF). Eawag aquatic research institute. Retrieved 2010-1-10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b c d e MOHAMMED KUTA YAHAYA. "DEVELOPMENT AND CHALLENGES OF BAKOLORI IRRIGATION PROJECT IN SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA" (PDF). Nordic Journal of African Studies 11(3): 411-430 (2002). Retrieved 2010-1-10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b Displacement and the politics of violence in Nigeria. BRILL. 1997. p. 76. ISBN 9004108769.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ David Anderson, Richard H. Grove (1990). "Conservation in Africa: Peoples, Policies and Practice". Cambridge University Press. p. 312. ISBN 0521349907.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ William Mark Adams (2001). Green development: environment and sustainability in the Third World. Routledge. p. 231. ISBN 0415147662.
- ^ "FISHERY RESOURCES OF NIGERIAN INLAND WATERS". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
- ^ M.O.E. Orode (1984-11-9). Tropical grain legume bulletin, Issue 28. International Grain Legume Information Centre. p. 88.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ M. Kebbeh, S. Haefele and S. O. Fagade1 (September 2003). "Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Irrigated Rice Productivity in Nigeria" (PDF). West Africa Rice Development Association. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Background on issues relating to Water". United Nations. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
- ^ G. E. Hollis, M. M. Holland, E. Maltby, and J. S. Larson. "Wise use of wetlands". Nature and Resources, vol. XXIV, No. 1, January-March 1988,. UNESCO.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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