FCT farmers count losses despite NiMET predictions

Farmers across the six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) continue to count their losses due to the erratic rainfall at the beginning of the farming season. The Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) could do nothing to save the rural farmers from incurring huge loss. All the farmers […]

Farmers across the six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) continue to count their losses due to the erratic rainfall at the beginning of the farming season.
The Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) could do nothing to save the rural farmers from incurring huge loss. All the farmers that spoke to Aso Chronicle are ignorant of the predictions and its relevance to their life-long profession.
Nothing seems to be the solution for the farmers, after spending money procuring tractors, for those with large portions of land, and spending on seedlings and cultivating, as they waited for the rain to come as it usually did.
Days turned to weeks then months, but without rain. They could do nothing as some said their young plants drooped, while many others withered. The few that survived the weather did so with little or nothing to harvest.
For the rural farmers in the FCT, no rain, no irrigation means low or even no harvest.
NiMET had predicted in its Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) for 2015, that there would be late onset of rainfall; many rural farmers said they are ignorant of this prediction.
The farmers said their losses could have been minimal should they have kept abreast of innovations such as the rainfall predictions. A large percentage of the rural dwellers in the over 800 FCT communities benefit from farming activities. Many of them still do it the crude means with mechanised farming only common among educated farmers that can afford it.
“If someone had told me that there will be low rainfall this year, why would I need to waste my loan on farming and run at loss,” Adamu Pada, the community head of Gurfata, Gwagwalada Area Council, said.
Just like Gurfata residents, many of the rural dwellers practice subsistence farming, though they sell after harvesting enough for their families. These communities produce yams, guinea corn, melon and other fruits.
NiMET’s Director General, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, had announced that there would be cessation of the growing season, reduced rainfall and warmer than normal conditions.
With the conditions, many farmers within the city centre have braced up, delaying farming activities while many rural farmers hurriedly went ahead with their plans as they normally did.
NiMET said the Seasonal Rainfall Prediction is done annually to ensure informed decisions in all climate and weather-sensitive sectors of the economy. It is usually released early in the year to allow for better planning and implementation by stakeholders.
Aso Chronicle reported that many of the farmers were shocked to know about the prediction while many argued that it was impossible. The prediction is of no effect on these farmers that form the chunk in the territory.
Despite the prediction, while the low rainfall lasted, many communities had engaged in various traditional rites in their quest to bring down the rain. Among such communities is Damgbma, a community in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) where residents believe that the erratic rainfall is occasioned by high rate of social vices.
Despite these practices, many of the farmers said they lost crops worth millions of naira as they harvested far less than they had cultivated. While in some communities, crops harvested from drooping plants came out smaller and poor.
In Daka, Kwali Area Council, Suleiman Gomna, the community head said he could barely get one bag from his over three acres of melon plantation. “Before now, I get a minimum of 10 bags,” he explained through an interpreter.
He said he lost more than N150,000, adding that he has not fathomed how his family would survive after expending the little they made from the farm.
Diana Ayuba, another resident, said none of the crops planted by her family yielded as expected. She said of the beniseed, melon and maize planted, none was good enough to make enough gain. She said rain started towards the harvest period.
Jamilu Haruna is a farmer in Shepkete, Kwali Area Council, with his over 20 acres watermelon plantation he could not break even. He said he ran into a loss when he calculated the amount he expended on the farm and the returns.
“I rented the land for N60,000; spent N20,000 weekly for three months on pesticides; the tractor I hired and other expenses. So by the time you calculate this, you will see that my loss is big,” Haruna said.

With the annual prediction information, he said he could have been better armed during the farming season.
“We have lost a lot this year because the yield comes out in smaller sizes rather than the big ones that we used to get when the season is good. If it had come out well we would have gained about N2 million but as it is we cannot make up to N100,000,” he said.
 The rural farmers said government could have done better by interpreting the predictions to them through their community heads and other leaders if it (government) wanted to protect their source of livelihood.
Though embittered with their loss, the farmers said they have no other job to do than to return to their farms.
Joshua Daniel, a resident said rural farmers cannot keep relying on the ways things are done in the past to address present challenges. He said they have to move with innovations in their line of job.
Daniel who manages a farm in Kuje Area Council said the farmers through their leaders can seek from the government ways to improving on their farming activities and using modern technologies at their disposal.
“The forecast from the meteorological agency is always for people to access but how many of these farmers know about it much less its interpretation,” he said. He also implored relevant government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to take up this challenge which he said would be to the advantage of the country at large.