Nigerian farmers have decried the scarcity of water which has hit rice, beans and millet farms across the Northern states.
In an interview, Mallam Idris Musa Sarkin Noman Abakwa, Kaduna, said he was afraid that many local farmers may lose their crops in 2021 due to scarcity of water, since there had not been rainfall in the past three weeks.
He said that as the raining season stopped, many local farmers were fearful for their crops that were yet to mature on their farms as they might easily get spoiled or damaged due to scarcity of rainfall
According to him, climate change, floods, insecurity and other ecological challenges have indeed affected this year’s bumper harvest, showing clearly that there might be scarcity of other cash crops and food items in the markets
A two-week survey conducted by a team of volunteer environmental journalists from various media outlets across the 19 northern states, had shown how many local farmers that are farming along the River banks were forced to embrace irrigation to save their crops.
He explained that most of the crops on his farmland had started drying gradually and this was a sign of a huge loss for him
Musa pointed out that many beans, rice, millet, and sorghum farmers were now in a critical situation, as some of them were forced to hire generators that could be pumping water from water-ways or rivers to their farms for the survival of their crops.
He said that majority of the local farmers across the 19 Northern states of Nigeria still practiced subsistence farming, very few practice mechanised system of farming due to lack of funds to support them and other ways to educate them on latest farming technology.
Musa added that many farmers did not start planting their crops on time due to the nature of this year’s rainy season, but it shows clearly that climate change was responsible for the damages
He mentioned the need to educate more farmers on ways to avert the damage to their crops and other harvests.
While calling on state and federal governments to embark on sensitization of farmers on the latest farming techniques, so as to join the rest of the world in the fight against hunger and inadequate food in the market
Dr Piman Hoffman, the Director, African climate reporters, cited climate change as posing numerous threats to animal farming operations,
According to him, Climate change can disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality.
He also called on governments to redouble their efforts towards sensitizing rural farmers about climate change and how to adapt to new systems of farming.
