Olanrewaju Lawal,Birnin-Kebbi
Rice farmers in Kebbi State have expressed concerns over their inabilities to secure fertilizers for their raining season cultivation and observed that the shortage of the product might hamper their outputs.
Cross section of farmers at FADAMA land along Dikku road,Birnin-Kebbi who spoke to newsmen on their plights, noted that despite their readiness to buy the product at the rate of N7,500 at the open market,it was not available.
Alhaji Ibrahim Guluma,who has four hectares of rice farm at FADAMA land said he could not secure fertilizers from government this year saying that “I also tried to buy from the open market, but it not available.”
He noted that he usually harvest about 30 paddy bags of rice from his four hectares of rice farm every raining season cultivation adding that he was not sure if his outputs would surpassed last year due to scarcity of fertilizers.
He further stressed that they are not threatened by flood as widely reported in some quarters.
Similarly,Mallam Muhammad Ileya -Yari who has been farming on his two hectares land at FADAMA land on subsistence level for many years, said that the state government only provided fertilizers for farmers last year at the rate of N6,500 stressed that ” this year we have not be able to get fertilizers from government.
“We were told that we can get fertilizers from open market at the rate of N7,500 or more . So, it will be difficult to get many fertilizers this season for our rice and that could affect our outputs”, he said.
Malami Umaru another farmer from Kofar Dididi area,Birnin-Kebbi, told newsmen that he had not got any fertilizer from the government for the raining season farming.
Umaru,who had been cultivating rice on FADAMA land for the past 15 years on three hectares of land noted that ” when government have us fertilizers last year at cost of N6,500,we have a good harvest but now, the product is scarce and too cost in the open market “.
A 45 years old farmer also allayed fear that flood have submerged many FADAMA farms land stressed that the river within their farms only increased in depths because of heavy downfalls without any negative effects on our farms.
