farmer-led irrigation
development (flid)

North and central Nigeria are rich in shallow groundwater resources, with about 7 million ha of cropland with groundwater resources within a depth of 25 m. The project will support farmers at the household level to increase irrigation, including small-scale solar-powered irrigation. 

FLID initiatives are demand-driven, where farmers are provided with information and practical avenues to access the equipment that they need from private sector suppliers. Interventions include knowledge transfer about technology, affordable finance, and linkages to markets. Farmers are encouraged to take up opportunities based on commercial farming with strong private sector involvement (equipment suppliers, financing institutions and market off takers). 

Individual irrigation has been promoted in many Government programs, the most well-known being the three FADAMA programs that achieved significant successes. Promoting FLID is one focus of the ACReSAL project because there are substantial natural resources that can be accessed, particularly shallow groundwater, and there is real potential to make a good farming profit from irrigated agriculture especially when using renewable energy resources such as solar.