Suitability of Different Water Sources for Irrigation in Floodplain Areas of Jalingo, Taraba State, Nigeria for Sustainable Crop Production

Abstract

Floodplains known as 'Fadama' is encouraged in Nigeria by the world bank in order to boost agriculture and food security. This activity is being managed by the State ministries of agriculture through Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) nationwide. This is a case study of Jalingo area of Taraba State, Nigeria where farmers used any available water from rivers, streams and wells without any regulations. The water samples for quality analysis were collected in five (5) different floodplain locations from three (3) different sources. Fifteen (15) water samples were collected from river, borehole and well using plastic bottle container both in August (peak of raining season) and November (end of raining season) respectively. Data from water samples were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for significant effect of source and location water quality for irrigation purposes. The suitability of the source and location water quality after comparing with the water standard for irrigation have most of their chemical properties within safe limit for irrigation purposes both in August and November respectively. (pH =6.26 to 6.81, Total Dissolved Solid, TDS = 113 to 345 mg/L, Total Suspended Solid, TSS = 1.72 to 1.95 mg/L, Bicarbonates, HCO3 = 5.76 to 10.88 mg/L, Carbonated, CO3 = 0.07 to 0.77 mg/L, Sodium, Na = 0.003 to 0.031 mg/L, Magnesium Mg = 4.84 to 5.93 mg/L, Calcium, Ca = 9.62 to 11.97 mg/L). From the results of the study, it could be observed that the quality of water across the locations irrespective of period of observation and source are good and hereby recommended for irrigation purposes.