Nimet warns against impending flood, devastating effect on farming
By Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo
Like 2022, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Nimet) has again predicted that 2023 will also witness another impending flooding, which will lead to devastating effect on farming and attendant food shortage.
Speaking at the presentation of the Seasonal Climate Prediction report, the director-general of NiMET, Prof. Mansur Matazu, while confirming the fear of most Nigerians, said:
“Flooding is a natural event and with the increase in climate change activities we are going to see more floods. Because climate change is due to increasing temperature. So, increased temperature means the atmosphere will be more pregnant to contain more water in the form of a water depot. And that means more rain and the rain will come in high intensity, but short duration.
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So the length of the season has been reducing, but the intensity and amount of the rain is increasing. So that gives more volume of water within a limited time and that’s what now triggers the flash floods after rainfall in cities and the riverine floods, leading to overflowing of rivers, especially during July to September.”
He further stated that “So, far in the south, generally speaking time around April, May, June, is normally their flash flood season because the season may have commenced. But we are working with National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) the national analytical services. They also complement our effort by providing flood forecasts around March and April.”
For farmers and those in the Agricultural sector, NiMet said: “The length of the growing season in most places in the country is likely to be near the long-term average, except for some states, like Katsina, Jigawa, and Kano, where shorter than the long-term average length of the growing season is anticipated.
“The season is expected to range from 84 to 283 days. Abuja and surrounding states are expected to witness between 170 and 230 days.”
