The most widely consumed stable grain in the nation is rice, and since 2016, the current administration has paid close attention to its development. Indicators suggest that the nation is progressively moving toward self-sufficiency in rice production.
Farmers and other stakeholders are concerned that the size of this year's floods might undermine the country's advances in rice production if immediate action is not taken, despite the fact that the country has been suffering flooding regularly, which affects rain-fed rice cultivation.
According to reports from Taraba State, farms on both sides of the River Benue, spanning more than 250 kilometers from Adamawa to Nasarawa State, were swept by what some of the farmers described as the most devastating flooding, which caused the loss of thousands of rice farmers' farms in five local government areas.
Farmers and other stakeholders are concerned that the size of this year's floods might undermine the country's advances in rice production if immediate action is not taken, despite the fact that the country has been suffering flooding regularly, which affects rain-fed rice cultivation.
According to reports from Taraba State, farms on both sides of the River Benue, spanning more than 250 kilometers from Adamawa to Nasarawa State, were swept by what some of the farmers described as the most devastating flooding, which caused the loss of thousands of rice farmers' farms in five local government areas.
90% of the farms in this region, which is the center for the production of rice, were wiped off by flooding.
The farmers worry that this might result in a paddy rice scarcity this year.
Thousands of hectares of farms in the Karim-Lamido, Lau, Ardo-Kola, Gassol, and Ibbi local government regions were impacted.
The farmers said that moving their farming operations from the hinterland to the riverfront in order to avoid bandit assaults made the flood calamity a double tragedy for them.
They reportedly expressed hope for a bountiful crop before a flood wiped out everything.
According to Madam Rita John, a female rice farmer in Mutumbiyu town, Gassol Local Government, she borrowed N400,000 from one of the rice merchants in the hopes that she would pay it back and gain money during harvest, but the land was damaged by water.
She claimed to have planted seven bags of rice seeds and was anticipating a paddy yield of more than a thousand bags.
Abubakar Dauda, a different farmer, said that he went from the hinterland, where he had previously grown maize and other crops, to the riverfront after borrowing N350,000 from a rice trader due to banditry.
He added that the loans the impacted farmers had taken, which would be challenging to repay given the current scenario, had put them in a tough predicament.
Because many large-scale farmers had spent millions of naira on rice farms, they are the biggest losers in this situation.
A catastrophe in the rice value chain is imminent, according to Tanko Bobbi Andami, the head of the Taraba State Rice Farmers Association, who verified that hundreds of hectares of rice crops were damaged in five local government areas in the state.
Dr. David Ishaya, the state's commissioner for agriculture, called it a national catastrophe. He requested assistance for rice farmers from the federal government, the North East Development Commission, and the National Emergency Management Agency.
According to reports from the state of Benue, rice growers are also reporting losses.
Some rice farmers are pleading with the government to help them as of Tuesday after their crops in Makurdi and the surrounding area became swamped.
Farmer Kenneth Apaa stated: "Water has completely ruined my 85 acre rice paddy. It is pitiful. I paid more over N10 million here, and it was all for nothing. It is awful.
"I had considered securing farm insurance this year. I've been working in agriculture for roughly four years. This is happening to me for the second time. It was not this much the first time.
source: saharareporters
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