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.
The farmers who spoke on Monday in Fika, said the floodwaters had not receded, leaving the crops totally submerged for several days.
Malam Dauda Fika, a rice farmer, 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.
Aliyu Usman, another farmer, said the situation was worsening with the daily persistent rainfall in the state.
“It has been decades when the area last saw rains in this magnitude consuming many houses and farmlands.
“We are lucky there is no loss of life in Fika, but many houses and farmlamds in Ngalda and Godowoli have been swept away by the floods,” Aliyu said.
Baaba Kali, said all rice farms on the shores of streams and waterways had been washed away by the flood.
“The rivers and streams overflowed their bounds sweeping away the farms and submerged others,” he said.
Ngalda Aminu, said over 70 farmlands were consumed by the floods and the over 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.”
Musa Usman, said he had stopped going to the farm as the water was yet to recede thus dashing his hope the more in getting anything out of the farm.
“Many of us have stopped going to the farms because, we are not expecting anything again from the farms.
“We regard this as the will of God, we had in the previous years been blessed on the same farms so, we just have to take it as it is and brace up for irrigation as the only alternative left for us,” Musa said.
Over 300 communities in 13 out of the 17 local government areas in the state had so far been affected by the floods.
The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) had provided relief materials to the victims to cushion their hardships.
