Plateau: Huge losses in the time of floods

Last year, Saleh Yusuf, a farmer living in Febas, a small village in Jos East local government area of Plateau State, invested about N250,000 in his yam, cassava, and maize farms. The farm, which is situated at Korumin, a few kilometres from his home in Federe district, has for years served as his source of […]

Last year, Saleh Yusuf, a farmer living in Febas, a small village in Jos East local government area of Plateau State, invested about N250,000 in his yam, cassava, and maize farms. The farm, which is situated at Korumin, a few kilometres from his home in Federe district, has for years served as his source of income. The peasant farmer fed his family from the harvest, sold the remaining surplus and made a profit of about N300,000.
“It was a good year,” he told our correspondent. But with a stern and almost hopeless look on his face, the over 40 years old farmer said he will be lucky to harvest enough farm produce to feed his family this year. “That means there will be nothing left for me to take to the market. Almost all my farm is gone. The flood washed away my cassava, broke into my two hectares of maize farm, and invaded the roots with sand. The maize is gone,  but at least, I was able to salvage a little of the yams,” he narrated his despair to Daily Trust.
 The flood that forced its way into various communities of Federe, Shere and Angwari districts of Jos East local government area about a week ago, had destroyed over 40 farmlands and drowned 29 cattle. The disaster followed a heavy downpour which lasted almost seven hours, flooding the streams around the hilly mountains of Fobur and Keben, before it converged at the Korumin valley in Fadan Federe. The force of the flood had eroded one lane of a newly constructed double box culvert road linking Fobur-Federe-Angwari, forcing motorists to carefully navigate through one lane.
Jos East is not new to flooding. In the last few years, farmers have witnessed similar destructions ,but none compared to the level of destruction this year, said Arun Dauda Ajiji, another farmer in Korumin. Ajiji who also lost his cassava and maize farms, said the last time the community witnessed such level of destruction on their farms was almost 20 years ago. “It rained for over seven hours and when we came out in the morning, we found that our farms were flooded. The flood uprooted our cassava and yams and washed them away. On my part, I was able to salvage part of my yams, but there is no doubt, the yield will not be as good as expected,” he said.
Other local government areas of Plateau State have not been exempted from flood related destructions, since the beginning of this year’s raining season. Houses were submerged and some partly destroyed in April when a heavy downpour ravaged communities in Riyom and Kanam local government areas of the state. But unlike Riyom and Kanam, the level of destruction to farmers in Jos East; one of Plateau’s least developed LG’s had spared their homes, for reasons some believe is due to the fact that the area could not boast of much in terms of development and population.
Korumin in particular has a history of flooding because of the nature of the river, and the bad road which is presently under construction. The local government Chairman, Dr. Samuel Ibrahim Pate said “the place is a valley. So at the slightest rain that is available, the water just collects in the streams, and so it over floods its banks and the place is sandy loam. So, water easily creates bad ways and floods into the farms.It is really a thing of concern for us.”
It is not certain how the destruction will impact on  food security in the communities, but Arun who farms maize, yam, cassava and beans, says it will definitely be felt. “Last year a lot of farmers in Jos East lost their farm produce, but the level of destruction was not as bad as this. Now with poverty in the country, I don’t know how some of us will make it. Maize production will not be as good this year, because the flood brought with it a lot of sand, and once sand invades a corn farm, then that is the end of it, everything is lost,” he said.

Our correspondent could not locate the herdsman who lost 29 of his cattle at the time of the visit to the community, but other cattle herders in the vicinity gave his name as Yau Garba, and said he was based in Tilde, Bauchi State, but often settles around the forest areas of Fobur during the raining season. Garba’s cattle are said to drink from the stream that gushes from the mountainous area and feeds his animals from the thick forest. The force from the stream had unfortunately swept 29 out of his 40 cattle to the banks of Korumin, where their remains were later found.
Dr. Pate said “the herdsman was just trying to cross to where he lives, not knowing that the water was strong enough to sweep away his cattle. It was a pathetic situation because when we met him, we found that he has just 40 cows and 29 have now been drowned, and that leaves him with 11.”
With all the destructions, top on the farmers’ mind is the fear that no relief will come to them as government intervention. Their fear is premised on the assumption that since nothing in the form of relief had come to previous farmers who lost their produce as a result of past floods, their chances will equally be slim, especially with the new economic downturn. Saleh Yusuf said “We are in the month of August ,and it is late for us to start the process all over again. The government has sent  representatives to look at the level of destruction, but nothing has been done since then. We  hope the government will not neglect us because these are hard times.”

But the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), explained that it was yet to get the full details of the destruction from concerned authorities, and  therefore it  could not do anything yet. SEMA boss in Plateau State, Alhassan Barde told our correspondent that as soon as the report is made available, the agency will mobilise to see how they can render assistance to the people.
According to Barde; “authorities do not report such issues promptly, so how do we know those affected or the location and the type of properties destroyed? But we have asked the LG council to please promptly provide us with a comprehensive report ,so we can see what assistance to render the people.”
The local government chairman also stressed that as soon as the agric department concludes its on the spot assessment, the council will find ways to assist the farmers, but stressed that “we are not promising anyone that we will give them something much, but we should be able to get something to cushion their suffering.”