Nasarawa state, being largely an agrarian state with large settlements along the banks of the river Benue has had more than a fair share of the recent flood disasters leading to various levels of destruction, with attendant displacement of over 100,000 people cutting across six local government areas in the state. This has left in its wake thousands of destroyed homes, farmsteads and other means of earning livelihood in the affected communities.
“Home of Solid Minerals” as it is dubbed, over 70 per cent of the population in Nasarawa engages in farming which makes agriculture the primary income earner and economic mainstay of the vast majority of the people in the state.
Worst affected by the ravaging floods in the state are: Awe, Kokona, Doma, Nasarawa, Toto and Lafia local government areas where farms and settlements were submerged in flood as a result of torrential rainfall and rivers that overflowed their banks in the last couple of months, a situation made worse with the release of excess water from Ladgo dam in Cameroun.
The flooding however, is likely to have direct implication on food security in the near future. Worst hit in the state is the Loko-Udege axis in Nasarawa local government area of the state were over 57 agrarian settlements are affected resulting in the loss of most of their crops to erosion.
The Chairman of Transition Management Committee of Loko development area, Hon. Ismail Mohammed Umar, who led newsmen on a tour of the affected areas said the people in his domain mostly farm rice, yam, corn and cassava, all of which were nearing harvest time, except corn, before the rampaging floods swept most of the crops away.
Hon. Umar lamented that the farmers who were lucky not to have lost everything to the flood waters were forced to dig out their yams prematurely to avoid total loss. This, however, did not prove a veritable solution as the yams so harvested rotted away, posing health hazards to the communities.
He said being aerobic crops corn and cassava which were submerged by flood waters rotted away leaving only stench in its wake. He said the people have cumulatively lost crops worth over N130 million in projected income to the flood aggravating the already grim economic outlook for the people.
The administrator, in his submission to National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), noted that “over 100 hectares of cultivated farmlands were destroyed leaving over 30,000 people displaced from Illah, Opato, Adayi, Iwali, Guto, Abatuku, Gidangiwa and Isankpe villages as well as other settlements which suffered to a lesser degree”.
In Doma local government area of the state which hosts the largest rice plantation in West Africa owned by Olam Integrated Rice Farms Nig. Ltd, the floods also reared its ugly head where homes and farmlands were damaged or completely destroyed. Seated on 95,000 hectares of land cutting across three communities of Ondori, Rukubi and Ijowu, it is expected that when fully operational the farm would produce the needed 2.4 million metric tones of rice to meet the national demand of rice which stands at 5.3 million metric tonnes.
The General Manager of the farm, Mr. George Reji, however, expressed unwillingness to divulge any information on the level of devastation by the floods on Olam rice farm which is being setup with over $100 million. It is fully mechanised with a processing unit to produce rice of international standards and stem rice importation into the country.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY investigations, however revealed that having prepared adequately for such occurrences given their strong financial position, Olam farms did not incur any losses of considerable magnitude unlike peasant farmers who lack the finances and technical know-how on flood management. The main challenge facing the farm is that of water hyacinth deposited on the plants as a result of the Lagdo water incidence from Cameroun.
The director, erosion and land reclamation in the Nasarawa state environmental protection agency, Mr. Jonathan Kwaghkaha, said the water hyacinth would however, pose a great danger to the expected yield because the rice have reached flowering phase which is a critical stage in rice production.