Flood: Yobe farmers lose hope in harvests this season

Farmers in Fika Local Government Area, Yobe, said they have lost hope in this season’s harvest due to floods that submerged several farmlands in the area.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 300 communities in 13 out of the 17 local government areas in the state had so far been affected by the floods.

Speaking with a cross section of farmers in Fika on Monday, NAN reports that the floodwaters had not receded, leaving the crops totally submerged for several days.

According to one of the respondents, Ngalda Aminu, said over 70 farmlands were consumed by the floods and the over flowing Ngalda river.

Aminu said “We received early information from communities in Bauchi and Gombe States that the river had over flown its bounds and heading downstream towards our area, but there was nothing we could do as we watch the farmlands and houses washed away helplessly.”

Another farmer, Malam Dauda Fika, said his rice farm had remained under the water for many days and there was no sign of the water drying out soon.

“The farmlands have been flooded, but the most dangerous aspect is that the crops are beneath the floods which means there will be no yields because the crops cannot survive under water for long,” he said.

According to another farmer, Aliyu Usman, disclosed that it has been decades when the area last saw rains in this magnitude consuming many houses and farmlands, adding that the situation was worsening with the daily persistent rainfall in the state.

Others lamented that all rice farms on the shores of streams and waterways had been washed away by the flood.

Most of them have even stopped going to the farm as the water was yet to recede, saying that they are not expecting anything again from the farms.

The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) had provided relief materials to the victims to cushion their hardships. (NAN)