Taraba farmers reap bumper harvests

Taraba is blessed with 4 million hectares of arable land of which only about 1.5 million is said to be under cultivation annually. Crops that are cultivated and thrive very well include yam, maize, melon, rice, sesame, groundnut, cassava, millet, tea, Irish and sweet potatoes, amongst others.Check by our correspondent showed that farmers in the […]

Taraba is blessed with 4 million hectares of arable land of which only about 1.5 million is said to be under cultivation annually. Crops that are cultivated and thrive very well include yam, maize, melon, rice, sesame, groundnut, cassava, millet, tea, Irish and sweet potatoes, amongst others.
Check by our correspondent showed that farmers in the state are raking in bumper harvests from the major crops planted this year’s wet farming season across the state.
Farmers said they recorded bumper harvests even in some of the crops that are hitherto not well grown in the state. One of such crops is melon, which yielded very well especially for farmers in Gassol Local Government Area of the state.

A melon farmer in Mutum-Biyu, Maihula Sani, told our correspondent that farmers in the area reaped bumper harvest of melon this year compared to previous years.
Sani said he was able to produce 20 bags of melon from his sizeable hectare of land this cropping season and still planted beans in the same place after the harvest.
He said the crop yielded very well even without the application of fertilizer and other agro-allied chemicals and attributed the yield to the fertility of the soil.
Sani said they have a local market in Mararaban Gassol area where they usually sell their melon, saying that a bag which was sold for N8,000 last year now sells at N11, 500.
Auwal Abubakar, another melon farmer said he planted one and half mudu (measure) on his farm this year and was able to reap six bags.
He said his farm yield would have been much higher but for caterpillars and other pests that attacked farms.
He said the inability of government to supply farmers with agro-allied chemicals affected the expected yield in some of the farms.

The challenge of farmers in the production of this particular crop borders majorly on the post harvest processing and storage.
Auwal lamented that farmers suffer a lot while trying to harvest and process melon, especially as it concerns getting water to wash the melon as well as a place to dry it in the sun.
He said many of the farmers usually dried their melon by the roadside and sometimes kept their children there to keep watch, a situation he said that exposed them a lot of risks.
He said government should help in building a place where farmers can carry out their processing activities.
Yams, maize and groundnut harvests
Taraba State is a big time producer of yam. A visit to Wukari and Danacha yam markets shows that the state recorded a boost in yam harvests this year.
A farmer in Danacha, Alex Agbende said he cultivated four hectares of yams this farming season and expressed optimism of harvesting nothing less than 7,000 tubers by the end of the harvest season.

He said farmers are at the first phase of yam harvest, adding that the major harvest normally takes place between January and February every year.
On maize harvest, Alex said farmers are yet to begin harvesting the crop in earnest but said the crop gave a good yield this year from the look of what was on the field.
Another farmer, Samuel Wende said he has started the first phase of his yam harvest which, he said yielded better than that of last year.
He said though he could not get subsidized fertilizer from government, he was able to get some quantity at high price from the open market which he used on his farm.
Wende who harvested about 10,000 tubers of yams from his four hectares yam farm last year, said he will get more this year, adding, “there are very clear indications that the harvest this year will be better than that of last year on yams.”
He said his maize farm equally looks promising but was yet to begin the harvest.

Udoji Iyar, another yam farmer also corroborated bumper yield of yams this year, adding that he expects to harvest about 7,000 tubers from his farm this year.
However, a cross-section of farmers spoken to on the yield of groundnuts complained of poor harvest this year. Samuel Wende attributed the poor yield of groundnuts this year to the drought farmers experienced at the early part of the planting season.
He said he was able to harvest only 20 bags which is far below what he harvested in the previous seasons.

In Jalingo, Wukari, Takum, Gembu, Lau, Donga, Zing and Karim amongst others, farmers said they recorded good yield from their yam and maize farms.
Public Relations Officer of Wukari yam market, Jerry A. Yakubu told Daily Trust that about 30 vehicle loaded with yams usually come to the market from different parts of the state on weekly basis.
He said though the major harvest of yam is around January, the early harvests indicate bumper harvest of yams this year, adding that most of the yams that come to the market were brought from Wukari, Takum, Ibi, Gassol and Donga local government areas of the state.
He said dealers come from the southern part of the country as well as Cameroon and Niger Republic to buy yams from the market especially during the full harvest season of yams which is around January and February.
Harnessing post harvest losses
One of the challenges farmers face after bumper harvests is how to manage their output from post harvest losses and have good returns for their labour.

The state FADAMA III Project acting Co-ordinator, Mrs Regina Festus said many projects have been carried out in various FADAMA User Groups (FUGs) across the state which aim at curtailing post harvest losses.
She said a total of 82 lockup shops, markets, shades and input stores were built across 38 FADAMA community associations in the state to add value to farmers’ output.
While the markets are to provide avenue for farmers to dispose their products, the input stores are to assist them in storing their excess farm produce till a future date in order to add more value to them.

She said farmers before sold their products at give-away prices due to lack of input stores and processing machines, adding that with the intervention of FADAMA, many of the farmers now get twice of what they hitherto got from their produce.
Mrs Festus said processing machines were also provided for farmers by the FADAMA office to add more value to their products.
She said in the aspect of input support, about 567 bags of fertilizers, 698 litres of agro chemicals and 3822 kilogrammes of improved seeds and seedlings were given to about 50 FUGs to boost agricultural production in this year’s farming season.
The co-ordinator also said that about 38 FADAMA community associations and 469 FADAMA Users Group (FUGs) benefitted from their various advisory services which aim at enlightening them on the best approach to farming in order to reap higher outputs.