Farming Activities Yet To Begin In Katsina

A survey on the situations of farming activities in some local government areas of Katsina State has revealed that most farmers have yet to begin planting.
The development validates the 2015 prediction of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) that rainfall will be delayed in some parts of the country.
The survey, conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (FFN), indicates that there is a drastic decline in farming activities in some local governments of the state presently when compared with the 2014 farming season.

According to the survey, between 15 and 30 per cent of the farmland in Funtua, Ajiwa and Dutsin-Ma areas, has been cultivated for planting due to late rainfall.
The survey shows further that in the eastern part of the state such as Mashi, Mani, Daura, Sandamu, Zango, Ingawa, Dutsi, Baure and Mai’Ádua, farmers have yet to plant their crops.
FFN recalls that NiMet predicted in its 2015 Seasonal Rainfall Predication (SRP) that there would be late onset and early cessation of rainfall in Katsina and other states in the North-West and North-East regions of the country.

Some farmers, who spoke with FFN, therefore, appealed to the federal and state governments to provide them with drought resistant seedlings to avoid economic loss and food shortage.
Malam Lawal Ibrahim, a farmer in Funtua, said that the state government should provide them with appropriate seed varieties that would take shorter period to yield to avert food shortage in the state.
“The length of the growing season is expected to be shorter this year, so we are appealing to relevant government agencies to provide us with cuttings and seedlings for all crops,’’ he said.

Sharing similar opinion, Malam Yusuf Mohammed, a farmer in Dutsin-Ma, appealed to the government to subsidise farm inputs such as fertilisers and agro-chemicals for them to increase their yields.
He also appealed to financial institutions to provide credit facilities for them to expand farming activities.
According to him, if they receive support from the government to get tractors, they will be able to go into commercial farming and even export.
In the same vein, Malam Nasiru Bello, a farmer in Ajiwa, appealed to the government to support them with irrigation and other relevant facilities to reduce losses.

Agricultural experts, nonetheless, have advised the state government to seek early maturing and drought-tolerant seed varieties from the research institutes as a matter of urgency.
Malam Lawal Adamu, an agriculturist, said that federal and Katsina State governments should seek those seed varieties from research institutes such International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Agricultural Research Institute, Zaria.

He said that they could also get the varieties from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT).
“Also, the research institute in a neighbouring Niger, INRAN (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione) has good drought- tolerant varieties of millet..

“The governments may wish to assist the farmers who form 80 per cent of the population and buy these varieties for distribution to them at little cost.
“ They may also buy them for the farmers at free cost to avert food shortage which is a potential threat to food security..
“These varieties usually take about 70- 85 days to mature and ready for harvest,’’ he said.
In addition, Mrs Felicia Nnaji, a crop production expert, urged the governments to support farmers with farm inputs to ensure adequate and sufficient yields in 2015.