Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has appealed for the support of the Federal Government to revive irrigation farming in the state as life gradually gets back to normal following years of insurgency.

The governor implored the Federal Government to explore the possibility of recharging Lake Chad with internal water bodies to enhance irrigation farming.

Lake Chad, once one of the world’s largest water bodies, has shrunk by 90 per cent from 1960 to date, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations.

The FAO warned that the development portends great danger for the four owner countries of the Lake Chad Basin, whose thousands of agrarian communities have relied on the water body for hundreds of years to undertake agricultural activities.

Economic experts have pointed at the drying up of the lake as one of the principal factors that exacerbated the enduring terror in the region due to the dwindling agricultural activities that, over the decades, provided means of employment for the larger population of the region.

“Recharging the Lake Chad from internal water bodies will boost agricultural activities and ensure food security for the country,” one of the governor’s media aides, Abdurrahman Bundi, quoted him as pleading with the Minister of Water Resources, Prof Joseph Utsev, in Abuja on Monday.

Zulum sought collaboration with the Federal Government to enhance Borno’s irrigation capabilities and ensure food security.

“The insurgency has affected the agricultural activities in Borno State, but now that there is an emerging peace, I am here to partner with the Federal Government to see how we shall revive irrigation activities,” Zulum said.

Responding, the minister expressed the Federal Government’s readiness to partner with the Borno State government to boost agricultural production and enhance food security.

Also present at the meeting were the Minister of State, Water Resources,  Bello Muhammad Goronyo, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Shehu Shinkafi, and Borno State Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Prof. Usman Tar.