The Challawa Karaye Irrigation Scheme (CKIS) is located at Turawa Village in Karaye Local Government Area of Kano State. The Scheme is planned to cover about 200 hectares of irrigable land to provide the community access to irrigated land. The Karaye community is host to the famous Challawa Gorge Dam but did not have the opportunity to have any formal irrigation infrastructure since that dam was constructed and hence the rational for the construction of the Scheme in the area.
Challawa-Karaye Irrigation Scheme Night Storage Reservoir under construction
The irrigation scheme comprise of a water intake/pumping station to lift water from the dam, a 28,800 m3 night storage reservoir (NSR), main canal, distributory canal, field channels, drains and associated structures. Contract for the construction of the scheme was awarded to Masers Impresit Bakolori Ltd in 2009 but was terminated in 2012 due to the poor performance of the contractor. The contract was re-awarded to Masers Kash Nur (Nigeria) Limited in the same year. The new contractor mobilized to site on 28th November 2012 and commenced work on the project. So far the construction of the pumping station along with the installation of the pumps, water delivery pipeline to the NSR, construction of NSR (including inlet and outlet structures) have been completed. The construction of the canal, drains and road networks to serve the first 100 hectares has commenced. Overall completion of the project is now 63%.
When completed, the project will provide 250 farm families with an all-year round direct employment generate indirect employment to 1,000 youth/women; and generate about 1,500 metric tons of grains and vegetables annually. This is expected to enhance the family food security of the communities and reduce rural-urban migration. Other potential benefits to the communities will be the establishment of small scale agro-processing businesses and increased availability of fodder for livestock