AYODELE AJOGE reports that rice farmers in Kebbi State have lost millions of naira while a bumper harvest was just around the corner, an incident which might have hindered the state government’s drive towards food security.
Kebbi State is undoubtedly the largest producer of rice in the country today, producing close to two million metric tons per annum, a gold mine of sort. This fact was not lost on some other states that would have loved to be in the same league with it but do not have the land and the right climate to be rice producers.
This must have informed the decision of the Lagos State government to partner with Kebbi State to jointly produce a brand called LAKE Rice, an effort which has been widely hailed by many Nigerians.
The huge rice production potential of Kebbi State has also caught the attention of the federal government which had invested billions of naira in rice production there through its Anchor Borrowers scheme where many rice farmers, numbering close to 80,000, had been empowered.
The Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria are also involved in rice projects across the state.
Unfortunately, all these combined efforts are up in smoke today as persistent rains and flooding which ravaged parts of the state in the past weeks have threatened the expected bumper harvest for this year, while Nigerians continue to complain of rising cost of the national’s staple food.
The rice farmers on the Anchor Borrowers scheme could only watch in dismay recently as all their efforts lay waste in the face of the flood, which though was not strange to farmers in the state, took a different a dimension this year, unleashing incalculable damage on rice farms in the state.
This year’s flood was said to have been occasioned by the overflow of about five dams from neighboring states, including Niger Republic, leading to forced release of water from those dams.
Apart from submerged rice farms, other agricultural crops and livestock were also seriously affected. Human lives were also lost in Tungar Gehuru village where eight persons were reportedly swept away by flood. Roads were equally not spared as several major roads and bridges were washed away.
More worrisome about the flood was that major rice-producing local government areas in the state were the ones affected prompting the state governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, to pay a visit to the areas in order to assess the damage.
Defying security challenges and the difficult terrains, Governor Bagudu personally had an interface with the affected farmers and assured them that the federal government, in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria, will surely assist them.
Rice farmers in Birnin-Tudu, Tigi, Sharhama and Agoda, all in Augie Local Government Area and Matan Fada, Bakin Gada, Zaginawa and Yeldu in Argungu council area could not hide their grief. The village heads told the governor that the disaster was the culmination of continuous and intensive rainfall.
The governor, while responding, promised to relocate the farmers temporarily to another area, charging them to cooperate with the government to make the task easy. He also appealed to the youth in the affected villages to organise themselves and form vigilance groups to enhance adequate security.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Attahiru Maccido, called on the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, assist the state with the construction of a large dam which will serve as a reservoir to store excess water during the rainy season.
Maccido lamented that Kebbi State is the only state with a large population of farmers without a dam to store its excess water during the rainy season, while appealing to the federal government to build a dam with the capacity to retain a huge volume of water during rainy season which could also be useful for farming in the dry season.
“Paying compensation to farmers will not solve their problems; the best thing to do for them is to get them a reservoir, and they can make use of the water during the dry season and this will invariably stop destruction of farmlands when the rainy season sets in.
“The water is an asset to us and if this can be harnessed properly and put in a reservoir, it will serve and help us a lot during the dry season,” he explained.
The ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr. Joel Aiki, corroborated the commissioner, explaining that flood had damaged the Fadama lands. He said the state lost its expected rice harvest, including millets, maize, sorghum soya bean and groundnuts.
Not only this. According to Aiki, environmental degradation has also set in with rich top soil washed away and deep gullies appearing everywhere. He stated that a permanent solution would be the construction of a dam and involvement of international experts to reclaim the rich soil that has been swept away.
Indeed the federal government responded to the call for help from Kebbi State. Last weekend, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Mohammed Nanono, who said President Muhammadu Buhari mandated him to visit the state to assess the extent of damage, was in the affected areas with a message of hope from the Presidency that farmers who lost their crops would be assisted.
“We will go back to Abuja, compile our reports and submit same to Mr. President and by the grace of God the federal government will come to the aid of the victims, including those who have lost their livestock, houses and other properties,” he stated.
The General Manager of the Labana Rice Mills Ltd. in Birnin-Kebbi, Abdullahi Idris Zuru told Sunday Tribune that the incident was a calamity as farmers and agro-allied industries like Labana were already in a celebration mood for a bumper harvest before the incident.
“It was unfortunate that it happened; flood came and washed away everything. Our hopes have been dashed,” he lamented.
He therefore called for an immediate intervention by the federal government, saying that “it could be worse than what we experienced during the lockdown. Many people have invested heavily. Many sold their properties in view of an impending bumper harvest. All these have been lost.”
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