Soya beans farmers lament poor seedlings

Soya beans farmers in Katsina State are lamenting poor germination of crop seedlings, a situation they said was denying them the opportunity to plant early. Soya beans are widely cultivated in the southern part of the state, especially considering the high cost of fertilizer. Speaking to our reporter, a farmer at Huguma, Kafur Local Government […]

Soya beans farmers in Katsina State are lamenting poor germination of crop seedlings, a situation they said was denying them the opportunity to plant early.
Soya beans are widely cultivated in the southern part of the state, especially considering the high cost of fertilizer.
Speaking to our reporter, a farmer at Huguma, Kafur Local Government Area, Malam Sa’id, said many soya beans farmers had either replanted the crop or switched to others like maize.
“Unlike the previous years, farmers have experienced poor germination of soya beans seedlings. Some of the farmers have to replant the crop twice or even switch to other crops to save time, especially as there was a prediction that the rainy season would end early. The cause of the problem is yet to be known, but some farmers have attributed it to the erratic rainfall we experienced during the planting season,” Malam Sa’id said.
Another farmer in Dayi, Malumfashi Local Government Area, Alhaji Abdullahi Yunusa, said he planted 100 kilograms of soya beans seedlings and lost everything as the crop failed to germinate.
“My farm was wet enough for planting, yet the soya beans I planted did not germinate, making me to lose at least N20,000. I had no option than to switch over and plant sorghum so as to meet up with the predicted short term rainy season,” Yunusa said.
He further said that farmers who changed seedlings and replanted the same soya beans had a wide margin from those who were successful in their early planting.
He, therefore, called on government and agricultural companies to provide farmers with new improved seedlings of soya beans so as to prevent the recurrence of such problem in future.
Speaking to our reporter, a retired agricultural expert from the Katsina State Ministry of Agriculture, Mallam Abdulkarim Ibrahim, said despite the need for improved soya seedlings, farmers had their own way of destroying the quality of the crop through premature harvesting or poor storage.
“Some farmers are in the habit of harvesting their soya beans in its semi mature stage. In order to meet up with high market demand, such farmers eagerly spray the crop with herbicides so that it would dry within a short time to enable them harvest and sell at a high price.
Such seedling, when planted, will never germinate as it was not mature or ripe enough when it was harvested,” Ibrahim said.
He added that some of the farmers who were patient enough to allow their soya beans ripe also have problem with storage as they allow rain or moisture to destroy the seedlings.
“Unlike other crops, soya beans easily swell when it contacts simple moisture, not to talk of rain. And whenever it dries after that swelling, it will never germinate again,’’ he added.