Why Kebbi farmers prefer dry season farming

The first bold effort to introduce dry season farming to rice farmers in Kebbi State was in 2005 when the former governor of the state, Alhaji Adamu Aliero launched the agricultural initiative that was popularly known as ‘KATASHI’.  The Agricultural Transformation and Self Help Initiative (KATASHI) was designed to encourage farmers in the state to […]

The first bold effort to introduce dry season farming to rice farmers in Kebbi State was in 2005 when the former governor of the state, Alhaji Adamu Aliero launched the agricultural initiative that was popularly known as ‘KATASHI’. 

The Agricultural Transformation and Self Help Initiative (KATASHI) was designed to encourage farmers in the state to engage in dry season farming, and  very soon it became popular as farmers were given a quarter of a hectare of land and other farm inputs, to plant rice during the dry season. From that time, year after year more people have been engaged in dry season farming, and today it has become the preferred agricultural practice in Kebbi State. 

The Anchor Borrowers Dry Season Farming Programme launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in Birnin Kebbi in 2015, gave another boost to dry season rice farming in Kebbi State. As the dry season farming continues to boost rice production in the state ,rice mills began to spring up in different Kebbi communities. Because the farmers were assured of markets for their paddy at a good price ,they engage more in dry season farming to boost their yields. 

As more and more people continue to engage in rice production in the state, dry season farming became the most preferred farming season. At present, more than 400,000 people are said to be actively engaged in dry season rice farming in Kebbi State ,and more are still coming into it during every farming year.

Available records show that Kebbi State has over 600,000 hectares of FADAMA land that stretches   across 14 local government areas of the state. From Augie to Argungu, Birnin Kebbi, Kalgo, Bunza, Dandi, Suru, Bagudo, Shanga, Ngaski, Zuru and other areas until it reaches its border with Kwara State. Its FADAMA land is said to be fertile for dry and wet season farming. The state is also blessed with water resources from two major rivers, the River Rima and River Niger. The River Rima comes from Sokoto through Argungu, and it went up to Bagudo before it terminates into the River Niger.

The chairman of the rice farmers association in Kebbi State, Alhaji Sahabi Augie said “About 20 years back, whenever the wet season farming was over, we would fold our arms and wait for the next wet farming season before we could plant our rice. Many of our youth used to leave the state and go to others parts of the country to look for menial jobs ,before the next wet farming season. We depended entirely on rainfall and on several occasions we were faced with flooding or drought problems. Many times the entire farmlands and crops were washed away during the wet season. Sometimes, if the rain does not fall as expected it would result in drought ,and this was a huge loss to the farmers. When the level of rainfall was higher it caused problems of flooding for the farmers. Under the dry season farming all the factors of production are under the control of farmers. They use the pumping machine to irrigate the farm, the farmers determine  the level of water they want in their farms.  If they are to apply fertilizer during the wet season ,they would have to wait for the rain to fall, because it needs moisture, and if they are not lucky enough the rain might not fall at all. But under the dry season farming farmers could plant their rice, wet their farms and apply fertilizer whenever they want. Also the sunshine we have in Kebbi State from February to June is favourable to crops in the dry season ,because the more the heat the better for the rice to do well, and it as well helps the soil to absorb the fertilizer. This is why we get more yields during the dry season than in the wet season. Where a farmer gets 50 bags of paddy during the wet season farming ,he could get 150 bags during dry season because he is in control of his irrigated water and all other actions he needed to manage his farm well”. 

One of the dry season rice farmers in Bunza area of the state, Shehu Abubakar told our correspondent that majority of the farmers in the various farm settlements engage only in dry season farming.  “Since I was introduced into farming by my late uncle about 10 years ago I only engage in dry season farming. Abubakar who said he preferred the dry season because he realizes more money from it ,said he was doing onion planting in Aliero area of the state, before venturing into dry season rice farming. The dry season farming is costly  to manage. I spend an average of N12,000 every day to ensure that I meet the necessary needs of the farm like fuel to pump water into the farm, agrochemicals, labour, and I spend a lot of money moving the pumping machine in and out of the farm every day. But in all it has been a very good experience for me”. 

A farmer, Muhammed Jamilu in Argungu local government area, told our correspondent that rice production in Kebbi State is virtually done during the dry season. He maintained that to achieve high yields, farmers must use the water pumping machines powered by petrol to generate water for several hectares of rice fields. “Unlike other states Kebbi has no dam for irrigation farming ,so for its farmers to remain in the rice business they must buy fuel on daily basis to pump water into their rice farms. During the last fuel scarcity we bought fuel at the rate of N230 and N250per litres. With this type of situation you can imagine the situation of a farmer with about two to five hectares of rice fields and must buy up to 20, 25 litres every day for three months to power the pumping machines for the watering of the farms. This is one of the reasons why our rice is expensive than rice produced in other states. Some states have dams and they irrigate by gravity. But here we have to spend more money to buy fuel to power the water pumps to produce our rice”. 

Alhaji Augie who is also a member of the state committee on the Anchor Borrowers Programme, outlined some of the challenges associated with the dry season farming. “Now every farmer knows the risks associated with the wet season farming. However, the dry season has its own challenges. The farmers use pumping machines to irrigate their farms ,and these machines use fuel to pump water into the rice farms. The dry season rice farming begins from January and continues until March. At every Christmas period the fuel price usually rises from N145 to N230 and N250 per litre. Many of the farmers do not have the capacity to buy fuel at exorbitant prices.  For this many of them are usually forced out of the dry season rice farming. Again, the high cost of inputs like the agrochemicals for weed and pest control is a serious challenge. Some of them that we used to buy at the rate of N700 are now sold for N2000, and their prices keep rising by the day”.

He reasoned that because dry season farming relied on irrigation both the state and federal governments should  look into how they could construct  dams to help boost the availability of irrigated water. “The Goronyo Dam in Sokoto State has been supplying water to our FADAMA lands in Kebbi ,but in recent time it can no longer function up to one third of its capacity. We want our own dam to be constructed here in Kebbi State so that we can maximize its use and boost our farming activities.  More than 400,000 people are actively engaged in dry season rice farming in Kebbi State ,and more and more are coming into it every year. Last year the farming season was not  good because most rice farms were exposed to dangerous winds.The wind is not much this year so this year’s farming season is better. We are expecting nothing less than 1.5m to 1.7m metric tons of rice in this year’s dry farming season”.