INTERVIEW: Floods: What government should do to help farmers — Bauchi RIFAN chairman
and Vice Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria in Bauchi State. He is a retired agriculture extension worker and a commercial rice farmer. In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES in Bauchi, Mr Yusuf speaks on the flooding in Nigeria and what the government can do to avoid future recurrence. Excerpts:
Of course yes. These are the issues. We also have the issue of silting of rivers by the authorities in our states. It has caused our rivers to be filled up with sand and once there is heavy rainfall or flow of water, it overflows and goes straight into our farms and houses. The rivers that are very deep have all been half-filled with sand and sometimes grasses which makes it easier for the water to overflow into communities.
PT: But some of the farmers I’ve met have already started preparing for dry season farming to make for the loss…Yes. I know that. But it’s not sufficient. The issue is that we don’t have a good economic policy in this country which is affecting agriculture in particular and the other layers of the economy in general. As I was saying, these people that were using river banks to provide food for the country have lost a lot of money to the floods.
So, since we already have these dry season farmers, I think it’s simple for the government to act. The issue as I said earlier is that things are hard and difficult already. The price of everything has gone up. For instance, diesel is now almost N900 per litre.
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