Shehu Abubakar, Gusau & Yusha'u Ibrahim
10 November 2007
Kano — Insufficient rainfall in this year has caused rising food prices and threats of famine in the extreme northern states. The states affected, according to Weekly Trust's findings, include Kano, Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara states.
Reports indicate that in the affected states, drought has destroyed crops in many farms leading to huge losses. Farmers are reaping less than 50 per cent of what they normally take out from their farmlands and in some states governments say they would open the strategic reserves to cushion the effect of the drought.
In Kano, the state government has approved the release of funds to buy grains for distribution to the less privileged in the state. In Jigawa State, Governor Sule Lamido led a powerful delegation of emirs from the state to President Umaru Yar'Adua in search of solutions. Reports say prices of grains have doubled in Kano markets in the last one month following the fear of possible famine as result of the drought.
Large influx of grain buyers from the neighbouring Niger Republic, Cameroon and Benin Republic, in raising prices of food items in the state. The heightening prices led to panic buying of grains. Investigations indicate that about 50 to 100 trucks loaded with assorted of grains have left Kano to Niger Republic, Cameroon and Benin republic in the last one month.
A grain seller at Dawanau Market, Malam Ibrahim Inuwa said this caused the increase in the prices of the commodities in Kano.
It was observed that the prices of a bag of beans and sorghum have risen by 150 per cent. Sorghum sold at N2,000 per bag last year, and now goes for N4,200. A bag of beans is now sold at N6,300 up from N4,000, while Soya beans is sold at N5,500 as against N4,000 last year.
Deputy Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo, said government has voted some money to buy grains. This, Gwarzo said, was part of government's efforts to cushion the effect of the drought and stave off the threats of famine.
In Jigawa State, the Emir of Gumel, Alhaji Ahmad Muhammad Sani, last week led a delegation to the Government House in Dutse and told Governor Lamido that people are being threatened by food shortages.
"We are here today on behalf of our people seeking for government prompt action through the supply of an emergency relief aid in the form of food, livestock feed and other relief materials to the entire farming families in the emirate," the emir said. He also presented some video clips of the effects of famine in his domain. Lamido expressed concern over the situation and called on the Federal Government intervene.
Many parts of Jigawa State experienced lengthy dry spell this year with a maximum of 435.3 millimetres of rainfall as against the yearly average of 700 millimetres. Gumel Emirate witnessed rainfall only four times this year, a situation that caused zero yields in millets, rice and maize.
Because of the high prices of foodstuff, households in Kano and Jigawa States have now started disposing off their livestock to make money to buy grains. The drought has also led to loss of flora and fauna, and migration of birds and animals to wetter areas.
A Mechanic at WAPA in Kano, Alhaji Yakubu Auwal Fagge told Weekly Trust that last year around this time, he had purchased six bags of local rice, three bags of millet, two bags of sorghum and one bag of beans, but this year he could not do that as the prices of the commodities have skyrocketed.
Malam Kabiru, a farmer in Dambatta Local Government of Kano State, said, "I was expecting about 97 to 100 bags this year, but I was only able to harvest 30 bags at the end of the day."
In Zamfara State, over 30 per cent of the assorted crops expected to be harvested this year have been destroyed or wasted as a result of drought, state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Dan-Malikin Gidan-Goga, has said.
The commissioner said this year's farming season experienced double tragedy starting from the planting season when he said rain was suspended for about three weeks after the crops had started germinating.
Gidan-Goga who is also one of the major farmers in the state, said some farmers had to re-plant their crops when the rain stopped abruptly for a couple of weeks at the early stage of the rainy season in the state.
He said though there was a lot of rainfall within the year, the rain stopped in September before it fell last in the second week of October when some of the crops were not matured for harvesting. The commissioner said the early suspension of rain was responsible for the destruction of majority of the crops in the state.
"I use to harvest between 2,500 to 3,000 bags of crops annually from my farms. This year, I was only able to harvest about 2,000 bags from the same farms because of the drought. The same thing happened to most of the farmers in the state. The situation is very pathetic. People have lost a lot of farm produce. Both major and small farmers are affected by the drought," he said.
Gidan-Goga said despite the effect of drought in the state, there might not be famine because the state government has enough grains in stock. He said the state government has since its inception, introduced a system of saving large quantity of drugs as a proactive measure to guard against food shortage. He said the state government will assist farmers who incured loses as a result of the drought.
The commissioner said the state government has already placed order for enough quantity of fertilizer for farmers in the state against next year's farming season to guard against late distribution of fertilizer, which hampers bumper harvest. He said the state government has also provided more tractors and other farming implements for release to farmers on hire purchase at subsidised rates.
However, the state chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Samaila Musa Garkuwa who is also a farmer, disagreed with the claims by the state government on the effect of the drought in the state. He said there was drought in the state and farmers are affected by it but the damage caused by the drought was insignificant.
"I travelled from Gusau to Funtua, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano and Abuja. The farms I saw along the road were not badly affected by the drought. Some crops were actually affected but not so much. I am not a big time farmer. I harvest between 50 and 100 bags of crops annually. This year I got almost the same quantity I use to get every year. There was a slight decrease quite alright, but it is insignificant," said.
Some of the local farmers he spoke to Weekly Trust in Gusau, Bungudu and Maru said they have lost a lot of their farm product to the drought this year. Malam Isa Wanzam and Alhaji Jafaru Tsafe are farmers whose guinea corn farms are located along Kaura road in Gusau the Zamfara state capital.
Wanzam said he usually harvest between 12 and 16 bags of guinea corn every year from a farm he rented from a businessman that he has been farming for the past 11 years.
"You can see the farm. I am not sure of getting up to two kilogrammes this year. The whole farm is dried up. Apart from the dried canes that I may use in feeding my donkey, I am not sure of getting anything. Back at home, I have less than a bag of guinea corn from my last year's product. I don't have any means of livelihood except from this farm and the local barbing where I am getting about N150 daily.
"I planted twice this year alone on one farm. The first time I planted, the crops were destroyed because rain stopped falling for about three weeks after the crops had germinated. I had to clear the farm and plant again when the rain resumed falling," he said.
The case of Alhaji Jafaru Tsafe was not different from that of Wanzam except that the lost he recorded was more because his was a bigger farm.
Other farmers that spoke to Weekly Trust in Bungudu and Maru had the same story with Wanzam as they claimed to have lost either all or a substantial part of their millet farms to drought. Weekly Trust observed in the state revealed that guinea corn, which is usually harvested late, was badly affected by the drought. Millets and maize were not as badly affected as guinea corn because some of them were harvested before the drought became serious.
Reports from Katsina indicate that grain prices have also risen by up to 60 per cent. A bag of maize now goes for N4,600 up from N2,500. A bag of millet and bag of guinea corn shot up to N4,000 each from N2,500.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
