CSSTE urges FG to harness benefits of flooding for agricultural purposes

The Centre for Space Science and Technology Education (CSSTE) has called on the the Federal Government of Nigeria to harness the potential benefits of flooding for agricultural purposes and other uses.

According to Blueprint, the Extecutive Director of CSSTE, Dr. Ganiyu Agbaje, made the call during a three-day training organised with supports from the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) in Abuja. He said the use of satellite technologies could be adopted in partnership with relevant government agencies to achieve the objective.

He cited an instance of harvesting the floodwater following a good weather prediction and ascertaining the timing and volume of flood through weather monitoring technologies.

His words: “When you know that the flood will last for three months or five months, for instance, you can use the water to plant rice, or you can gather it into a reservoir that can be used during the dry season.

“There are so many things that can be done with this, and if you know that certain places are lacking water, you can channel it to those farms that need those water.

“Like all these ranches that we have been talking about, that river is coming from the north, if you have a ranch there, you can channel the water and store it.”

He added that the water could be purified to become drinkable, “so why are we not using the flood water to make life easier,” Agbaje queried.