Katsina farmers say erratic rainfall may cause shortage of food

Traditionally, farmers in the state were taking advantage of early rains in the months of April and May to plant especially crops that require long period of rainfall; but this year the situation is different as rainfall only started in earnest in the second week of June, and there is no certainty if the rain […]

Traditionally, farmers in the state were taking advantage of early rains in the months of April and May to plant especially crops that require long period of rainfall; but this year the situation is different as rainfall only started in earnest in the second week of June, and there is no certainty if the rain will reach October as used to be case.
One of the farmers in the area, Malam Abdul’azeez Sani, said farmers who are yet to start planting are going to be two months late this season compared to what obtained some years back.
“Ideally by now some of us would have finished the second weeding of our farms while some would have been in the first one but things changed this year due to the shortage of rainfall. Many of the farmers that planted their farms in the last one or two weeks have lost it as the seeds failed to germinate; only a few that planted rice in swampy or lowland areas succeeded with the early planting,” he said.
He expressed fear that there may be the likelihood of having low yield in this year’s harvesting period as many farmers are declining to take the risk of planting in this uncertain rainy season while many of the food crops may not ripe within the likely short period of the rainfall.
Another farmer in Kafur Local Government Area, Mal Iliya said besides the erratic rainfall, farmers are also experiencing shortage of tractors and tillage cattle due to prevalence of cattle rustling in the state.
He said the situation affects largely peasant farmers who have no access to mechanised farming tools; adding that most of the farmers that depended on cattle to till their farmlands are now stranded as they could not take part in early planting which is very advantageous in farming.