Eating up a bumper harvest

At a time farmers in the country are expecting pumper harvest this year, in Kirikasmma and Birniwa Local Governments of Jigawa State they are expecting hunger following invasion of quelea birds. The birds, Pyramid Trust observed, have caused serious damages on farm produce in the area. About 500 farms were said to have been ravaged […]

At a time farmers in the country are expecting pumper harvest this year, in Kirikasmma and Birniwa Local Governments of Jigawa State they are expecting hunger following invasion of quelea birds.

The birds, Pyramid Trust observed, have caused serious damages on farm produce in the area. About 500 farms were said to have been ravaged by the birds in the two affected local governments.

The birds, descended on farmlands in the last two weeks despite several efforts by the communities to stop them.

A visit to the area revealed that the situation has forced many farmers to harvest their farm produce prematurely.

Pyramid  Trust observed that villages such as Gayin-Babba, Mayuwa, Kazabar, Dagil-Fanni, Matan-Gandi, Kargidi, Siwadi, Yasara and Kogi were affected by the disaster.

Further investigations indicated that while the majority of farmers in the areas lost their entire farm produce to the disaster. Others harvested only a small quantity of their farm produce, while the larger portion were destroyed by the quelea birds.

Following the invasion of the birds, communities abandoned their daily activities and relocated to their farmlands to fight the destructive birds.

Children and women, gathered, would leave their homes to the farms as early as 6am with various kinds of instruments that could help them scare the birds away.

Items such as jerry cans, local drums, horns, dane guns, whistles and other related instruments were being used by the communities to scare the birds away.

Mostly, children in the affected communities, have abandoned schools to assist their parents in the fight against the birds. It was gathered that the birds invaded the area because of the availability of typha grass, popularly known as Kachalla, which breed the birds.

In addition to the adoption of various measures to stop the destructive birds from attacking their farmlands Pyramid Trust further learn that, the affected communities hold vigils in prayer to God. It was said that they recite the Holy Qur’an 150 times within two weeks, seeking Allah’s intervention.

Before the unfortunate invasion of the quelea birds, the communities were well known in rice and sesame production, which they no longer produce.

According to the village head of Gayun-Babba, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabamma Bulama, the invasion of the birds was seriously affecting their farming activities to the extent that they had been forced to abandon rice and sesame production for almost five years now.

“Since the birds relocated to the area as their breeding sites, our farmers can no longer produce rice and sesame in this town. And despite several complaints to the state government through the local government, the birds continued to strike on our farmlands every year,” noted Balama Muhammadu.

He added that “Although government had made an attempt to address the situation this year, the helicopter brought by the state government worsened the situation. We have not seen even a single bird killed and instead, they descended on our farmlands after they were scared by the helicopter”.

Alhaji Bulama explained that, the affected communities had no alternative than to take their case to the Almighty God, as according to him, the efforts being made by the government could not solve the problem.

One of the farmers, Malam Aliyu said that  he was  not expecting to harvest more than three  bags of millet from his farm, which under normal circumstances he would have harvested15 to 20 bags. The  farm produce was destroyed by the birds.

Aliyu further added that, “I could not harvest anything from the other farm that was located far away from the village because it was completely devastated by all kinds quelea birds.”

Speaking on the issue, the Chairman, Kirikasamma Local Government, Alhaji Abba Daguro said that a meeting was held by his council over the matter and a report submitted to the state government.

Alhaji Abba further stated that the local government council would look into the possibility of assisting the affected communities after assessing the situation, adding that, it would also continue  to persuade the state government through the state emergency relief agency to equally come to the aid of the affected communities.

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Nasidi Ali, said government was doing its best to address the situation, but the situation needed collaborative efforts between the federal, state and the local governments.

He, however, assured the affected communities that government would continue doing its best at its own level and at the same time, draw the attention of the federal government to the issue of typha grass invasion, which, he said, remained the major cause of the whole problem.