The Federal Government’s efforts to move away from a monolithic economy and diversify in the area of agriculture seemed to be paying off. However, the recent flood that ravaged some states of the federation has made agricultural production suffer a setback. OSAGIE OTABOR reports that rice farmers in Edo State are counting their losses as flood destroyed their rice farms.
Prince Joe Okojie, Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Programme, is not happy: no thanks to floods which have spoiled his efforts at boosting rice production.
Over 300 hectares of rice farms have been washed away by the floods. What worsens the situation was the non-payment of insurance by the farmers as outlined in the business plan given to them by Okojie.
Okojie was given the responsibility to implement Obaseki’s agricultural programme and policies of making local farmers regard agriculture as business as well as means of being millionaires. One of the strategies adopted to achieve the objective was to encourage the farmers to form co-operatives, divided into clusters and raise their spirits to key into the FADAMA 111 Additional Financing Project.
Okojie undertook a tour of the three Senatorial Districts and sensitised rice farmers to the benefits of forming co-operatives as a way of benefitting from Obaseki’s agricultural policies.
Some rice farmers were happy to key into the projects and each was allocated one hectare of land in the pilot project at Iguoriakhi, Agenebode and Warrake.
It was at the point of harvesting that tears came for the farmers. At Iguoriakhi, the 280 hectares of rice farm at the bank of the Ovia River in Ovia South West Local Government Area were washed away by flood.
A total of 280 farmers under various clusters were affected by the disaster. They commenced harvesting on a Saturday but the Ovia River overflowed its bank the next day and 80 per cent of the rice field were covered with flood.
President of the Iguomon I Cluster, Mrs. Bola Amen Ijeoma, said they were expecting to get five tons per hectare in the farm following the use of Faro 44.
She said: “We began rice farming at this Iguomon axis last year but we couldn’t make any harvest because of flood. I just started harvesting before the flood incident. I was expecting to harvest five tons of rice from my rice farm.
“This is a big loss. We have 280 hectares of rice farm. We don’t have money which was why we didn’t insure the farm. We were introduced to FADAMA III to assist us because of the loss we incurred last year.”
The leader of Iguomon II Cluster, Mr. Edward Akpoboye, said the flood has destroyed all their hope of recovering from the loss they experienced last year.
“We thank the government for mitigating our losses last year. Flood has taken everything, including our joy and happiness. I don’t know how to tell my wife what happened. This is the only work we know how to do best.
“We want the government to alleviate our suffering occasioned by this disaster. Last year, flood destroyed our farms. We thought we would have concluded harvesting the rice before the flood incident.
“The water is too much. Some persons are harvesting the rice they can see. Last year, we planted paddy rice but this year, we planted Faro 44 and we were expecting bumper harvest,” he said.
At Agenebode in Estako East Local Government Area, 110 hectares of land were given to the state government by the Leventis Farm. 110 farmers participated in the rice project.
As at press time, flood has taken over 20 per cent of the farm while the farmers have only harvested six hectares with the use of a combined harvester.
The farmers had to use canoe to push their way through the flood to evacuate rice to the upland. Some of the farmers are, however, apprehensive over the rising flood as the rice was not yet desiccated. There should be uninterrupted sunshine for at least two weeks to enable them to start harvesting.
Chairman of the rice farmers, Mr. Omoaka Paul, told reporters that they first experienced such flood that destroyed their rice field in 2012. He said their prayer is for other parts of the rice field to dry up before the water level rises.
Omoaka further stated that they were expecting to harvest between four and six metric tons of rice per hectare but the flood reduced it to between three and four tons per hectare.
He said: “Eighty per cent of the farmers may not be able to harvest their rice because they rice is yet to dry up and the flood is yet to abate. The level of water yesterday has increased today.
“We have harvested five hectares out of 110. If not for Leventis Farm that gave us combined harvesters, it would have been difficult for us.”
Another farmer who identified himself as Pius said he spent N270, 000 to cultivate his one hectare and was happy that the rice was doing well before the flood came.
Pius said his fears were that his rice was yet to be due for harvest due to absence of sunlight.
Unfortunately, the farmers admitted that they did not pay for insurance as outlined in the business plan. The insurance firm would have paid the farmers 70 per cent of the expected yield as the disaster occurred.
Mrs. Bola claimed they were not having money to pay for the insurance, even as he added that they didn’t expect such disaster.
Another farmer, Mr. Agamah Isaac said they would be happy if they get up to 70 per cent of the expected yield in order to survive the suffering occasioned by the flood disaster.
Omoaka, however, appealed to Prince Okojie to assist the farmers to enable them to recover from the shock of the loss.
“We will be happy to get up to 60 per cent. Many farmers do not know the essence of insurance. We would have been millionaires but for the flood. Please take our message back to the governor. We need some level of assistance,” he said.
Okojie said he was disappointed that the state pilot rice farms were being destroyed by flood. He said the state government expected to get six metric tons per hectare but the flood has reduced it to four tons per hectare.
His words: “We cultivated 110 hectares of rice in Agenebode . We have a cluster of 110 farmers. Each farmer had one hectare of land. We were expecting four to six metric tons per hectare.
“What we will do is to begin rice cultivation early next year. We started planting in May this year. We will start early so that we can prevent further disaster. We will have a conversation with the farmers in a bid to know what assistance government can render to the farmers.
“The last time they witnessed massive flood was in 2012. We were not anticipating anything like this. There is little or nothing anybody can do about nature.
“I came to inspect the extent of damage on the farm myself because from the pictures I saw, the farm was looking good. I was informed just that flood has taken over the farm.
“Next year, we have to start early. We need to start early next year to avoid this kind of situation. I will discuss with the Governor Obaseki tô know the next step to take. We carry out research to select the seedlings. The farm was doing well. We were expecting the farmers to smile this year. All my efforts have gone down the drain.”
The Edo State Project Coordinator for the FADAMA III project, Dr. Edward Izevbigie, said he was happy that the Agenebode rice field was not totally submerged by flood.
“This place is partially submerged. They are still able to make four tons per hectare as against the proposed five tons The adverse effect of the flood is not too much on the farmers since they were still able to harvest.”
On the Iguoriakhi rice field, Izevbigie noted that manual harvesting was undertaken because the land was not fully mechanised.
“If the state government had not paid its counterpart funding, the farmers would not have been enjoying the facilities. The state government ensured that the source of input is genuine. Sygenta did the supply of all the seedlings and agro-chemicals that we used.
“The seed we used has the capacity to produce five tons per hectare. The farmers have started harvesting before the flood disaster. We can see that 70 per cent of the rice field was affected by the flood,” he said.