Some farmers in FCT lament low rainfall

Some farmers in Kuje, and Kwali Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have decried the paucity of rainfall in the area.

The farmers, who spoke in separate interviews in Kuje on Thursday, expressed fear that inadequate rainfall could have a negative effect on crops like maize, groundnut and guinea corn.

A peasant farmer at Gaube village in Kuje, Mr Bulus Zamani said that the crops on his farm were beginning to look fragile due to insufficient rainfall in the past two weeks.

“It is not long that I got the grass weeded and applied fertiliser on the corn (maize), but yet rain has not dropped ever since then.

“The crops need the rains to enable them grow properly and healthy, so that we can get a bountiful harvest this year.

“The yams also need steady rainfall in order to enlarge the tubers in the soil and to yield good seedlings for further planting.’’

Mr Dogara Gado, a mechanised farmer from Lambata community in Kwali Area Council, said the inadequate rainfall would most likely affect harvest this year, describing the present weather condition as worrisome.

Gado prayed to God to send down steady rainfall to enable the crops grow properly so he could have bumper harvest.

“The crops have germinated and the soil is already dried like we are in the dry season, which is not too good for millet, guinea corn and maize.

“It will make the produce from the farm look poor during harvest; that is not too good for any farmer.

‘‘Beans don’t have much problem with rainfall as they produce even with the help of morning dew and it makes them produce flowers in order to bring out the seeds.

“The scarcity of rain will only make the leaves grow fresh and green without yielding the beans and that is not too good,’’ Gado said.

The farmers, however, appealed to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to make fertiliser available to them at subsidised rate to enhance food production.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), had in its 2017 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) forecast that most places in the FCT would experience late onset and shorter rainfall season.

It predicted that the earliest rain within the territory would be experienced around Abuja metropolis on April 17, while places around Kuje and Bwari would experience rains on April 25 and 27 respectively.

The agency predicted the length to be between 190 and 207 days during the year with expected annual rainfall to be between 1,096 and 1,471 milimetres respectively.

The post Some farmers in FCT lament low rainfall appeared first on Vanguard News.