Harvest
By Mohammed Mamman
Damaturu, July 23, 2018 (NAN) Farmers in Yobe on Monday expressed worry over the unsteady pattern of rainfall and emergence of pests threatening their hope for bumper harvests this cropping season.
The farmers who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews, said rainfall had been very unsteady since the commencement of the season.
Malam Abdullahi Alkali, a farmer in Damaturu, said he had to plant his farm twice because the rain had been epileptic.
“All of us with farms around here along Gashua road had to plant our farms twice because after the first planting, the rains ceased and the heat destroyed the plant so, we had to replant the farms again.
“Sadly, even this second planting which have germinated now suffer acute shortage of rains just as pests are emerging everywhere” he said.
Musa Umaru another farmer said the situation is increasingly becoming scary due to the shortage of rainfall, adding, “some of us who acquired fertilizer cannot apply it because the rains are not there.”
Muhammadu Garba, a farmer in Karasuwa, told NAN that pests have emerged in Karasuwa, Yusufari and Yunusari local government areas.
“If we have steady rainfall, it would washed away the pests but, the rains are not there” he lamented.
Garba expressed fears that the young larva would soon mature into locust swamps to feed on the crops and destroy the farmlands , thereby resulting in poor harvests.
Alhaji Mustapha Gajerima, state Commissioner for Agriculture, could not be reached for comments as he was said to have travelled out of the state.
NAN reports that Yobe government last year carried out massive spray of farmlands following outbreak of locusts across the state. (NAN)
MM/MZA