Assessment of the Suitability of River Rutu for Irrigation purposes in Kokona, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

The utilization of water high in ionic content may eventually lead to build up of substances in the soil at a level likely to affect the soil productivity and reduce in yields of crops. With this point, the suitability of River Rutu for irrigation purposes was attempted to ascertain the level of concentration of some of the parameters used in assessing water for irrigation. The study employed sampling at different points where 3 samples each were taken at the up stream, mid-stream and down stream of the river for both dry and wet seasons. The parameters analysed in the laboratory were pH, HCO3, CO3, Ca, Mg, TDS, B, EC, N, Na, NO3, SO4 and the suitability of the concentration of the parameters were determined through RSC, SAR, KI, MR. The results shows the mean values for SAR in both dry and wet seasons as 0.654meq/l and 0.6211meq/l respectively. RSC mean value for dry season is -16.85meq/l. However, the mean value for wet season was pegged at 10.9388meq/l. Based on the findings from the analysis on MR, the mean value was seen as 32.8711meq/l, for wet season and the dry season had 35.8950meq/l mean value. Kelley’s Ratio was measured at mean value of 0.073meq/l for dry season and wet season stood at 0.0542meq/l mean value. The study concluded that the results from the sampled water of River Rutu is good for irrigation regardless of seasonal variations and recommended that the water quality is good and can support all types of crops. Therefore, the Local and State Governments should provide loans and support farmers in Rutu to boost irrigation in the area in order to improve the nation’s agricultural value chain