Chijioke Iremeka
Stakeholders across the country who are worried about delayed and inconsistent rainfall in Nigeria have called for the adoption of irrigated farming to ensure there is a bounty harvest in 2024 and beyond.
They observed that with May barely two weeks away, the country is yet to experience serious downpours apart from sparse rainfall that has been intermittent.
The stakeholders noted this may bring about poor harvest and hunger in 2024.
According to them, planting is usually delayed when there is a late onset of rains, while the early cessation destroys the late crops, thereby causing poor crop yields, poor quality of crops, hunger, poverty, and migration among others.
According to the United Nations, the number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since 2020 and 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UN report provides fresh evidence that the world is moving further away from its goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.
The 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report presents updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world, including the latest estimates of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet.
The report also looks at ways in which governments can repurpose their current support to agriculture to reduce the cost of healthy diets, mindful of the limited public resources available in many parts of the world.
The report was jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN World Food Programme, and the World Health Organisation.
A fellow at the National Agriculture Extension Research Liaison Services, Dr Issa Fadllulah said the country would be paying lip service to the growth of its agricultural sector without an irrigation scheme.
According to him, agriculture is weather dependent, noting that during weather crises, especially in the case of delayed rainfall, it will affect farming and crop yields.
Fadllulah noted that where there is delay or inconsistent rainfall, some crops will not survive as crops have different requirements to thrive.
He explained that with irrigation, farmers could cultivate crops like corn up to four times a year, saying that for Nigeria to make meaningful progress in agriculture, it must not depend on rain-fed agriculture.
He added, “You can imagine the quantum of food we will be producing if we fully embrace irrigation. Unfortunately, I think we are still paying lip service to agriculture in this country by not fully adopting irrigation.
“In countries like Saudi Arabia and Dubai, where they don’t have water or where it rarely rains, they are producing greens all year round. These countries are turning deserts into farmlands through irrigation.”
Corroborating Fadllulah’s views, the Coordinator of the Nigerian Association of Women In Agriculture, Mrs Chahul Ngizan, said this year’s planting season was delayed because of late rainfall.
“In some areas in the country, the rains had already started in early April. Though the rain did not start as early as it should, it should have begun in early March.
“We usually begin the planting season early in March, but this year, most farmers began planting in April. I have planted my yams, and cassava and currently planting groundnuts.
“We hope the rain continues as scheduled or else it will affect this year’s harvest. However in areas where there is no rainfall, we advise farmers not to begin planting,” Ngizan said.
She, however, called on farmers to invest in irrigated farming. According to her, with irrigation, farmers can plant all through the year without depending on rainfall patterns.
Also speaking, Lagos State Coordinator, Women in Trade and Agriculture, Mrs Antonia Amakwe said the government should help local farmers with the irrigation system to boost crop cultivation.
“We have been expecting consistent rainfall since March; farmers have been very hopeful that before now, the rain must have begun.
“We hope the rain begins and it is consistent to enable the crops to do well. Now that it started in April, we hope it stays for some time,” she said.
“We have been calling on the government over the years to help farmers with irrigated farming to reduce dependence on rain.
“Irrigation is the only solution to inconsistency in rainfall patterns; so that we can have all year-round crop cultivation,” she added.
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