Virus destroys groundnut in Katsina

Under the scheme, at least, 4 new improved rosette resistant and market-preferred groundnut varieties, as well as dissemination of seed of improved varieties and production technologies have been released to about 180, 000 farmers. Each of these farmers will be assisted to reach a minimum of 10 farmers, with the goal of reaching 1.8 million […]

Under the scheme, at least, 4 new improved rosette resistant and market-preferred groundnut varieties, as well as dissemination of seed of improved varieties and production technologies have been released to about 180, 000 farmers. Each of these farmers will be assisted to reach a minimum of 10 farmers, with the goal of reaching 1.8 million farmers.
However, as laudable as the project seems to be, its actualisation may seem impossible as farmers in Katsina, one of the major stakeholders in the projects, are bedeviled with rosette infected farms which is greatly affecting their production.
For farmers under the Jibia irrigation scheme, harvest seems bleak, given the devastating effects of the crop disease. Alhaji Audi, chairman of the farmers, told our reporter that 70 percent of the farms have been affected drastically.
“In Jibia area, our farms have been infected, no good variety this year. Some insects attacked the farms, especially in the early period of the rains, I can’t estimate how many farms but all over the places I visited after the complains, I found out more than two thirds of about 3,500 hectares of Jibia irrigation is affected.”
He said agric extension workers who are in small in number, with little support from authorities, were not forthcoming and the farmers have to rely on God, adding that the few places that were sprayed with insecticides didn’t show much improvement.
Malam Abdul Yusuf who farms groundnut in a two hectare land said that he is grateful to God that his farm wasn’t affected but several of his colleagues are affected. He said: I was made to understand the problem during an interaction with some farmer friends who said that to recoup their investments seem impossible given the devastating attack they suffered.”
According to MalamZabura, the main cause of the problem is intermittent rainfall.
He said that most of the farms affected are those that used the old seeds and farming methods, adding that local seeds were most affected giving the trend of migration from groundnuts to beni-seed.
He said famers in Katsina are known for groundnut adding: “For us in Batagarawa, at least 50 to 100 tonnes can be attained per hectare from farming groundnut in this local government alone, especially when you add up production from Yargamji and Bakiyawa areas which are excellent farmers in the commodity.”
Zabura said with good harvest, a hectare can yield about 30 bags of groundnut, but with this situation one should expect ten bags per hectare. He attributed the problems to break in rainfall and most importantly the non-improved seeds which are prone to attack.
He said most farmers that planted the Samnut 23 and 24 varieties of seeds did not experience the problem as they are rosette resistance and could have a good yield of 2,000 kilogrammes per hectare and can be cultivated within 75 days of planting. He advised farmers to always seek new methods of farming so as to avoid such problems.