Some farmers’ associations in Lagos State have called for the collaboration of government and stakeholders to prevent flooding in local farms across the country.

The associations made the calls in separate interviews on Wednesday in Lagos.

The deputy chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Sakin Agbayewa, called for the training of local farmers on changing weather patterns and collaboration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) to prevent floods in the farms.

“As regards flooding, the government should do more to aid local farmers. Local farmers’ associations like ours should work well with NiMet.

“We should be kept abreast of first-hand information that has to do with the changing weather patterns.

“Farmers should be adequately trained as regards the changing weather patterns as occasioned by climate change effects,” Mr Agbayewa said.

He added that local farmers need to create free passageways for water in their farms to prevent flooding.

“If in a year, within three to four months, we are going to have rain, the government should plan for it by making irrigation systems accessible to local farmers. This means during the expected flood seasons, local farmers can put a pause in cultivation, as the irrigation systems have helped them produce ahead.

“And what we are saying is that the government should liaise with banks; when farmers apply for funding for irrigation systems because of climatic change, they should oblige them. Farmers can also create ridges in their farms for easy water flow during the floods to make shift dams, where they can be accumulated rather than run over the farms.

“So, with the early signal from NIMET, farmers can dredge their farms ahead of flash floods. This will, in turn, help to channel the flood away from the farms,” he said.

He enjoined institutes to come up with research-friendly techniques for floods and droughts.

“We have all these research institutes; let them come up with a very advanced research sequence that is friendly with floods and droughts, so local farmers can apply it appropriately.

“We cannot stop floods but we can begin to do advocacy and train farmers ahead in preventing their farms from being overrun,” he said.

On his part, the Lagos State chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Raphael Hunsa, called for government aid for local farmers to create ridges on their farms to prevent flooding.

“We cannot do without water in crop cultivation; water is our friend. And we cannot also avoid flooding because it is an act of nature, but we can prevent our farms from being overrun by floods.

“What we have to do is to make ridges in our farms to aid easy water flow so that the water can be channelled out of the farms into dams during floods. Also, whenever we need the water, we channel it back into our farms as irrigation. And whenever it is too much, we channel it out.

“But this cannot be done solely by the local farmers because it consumes money. That is where we need the government’s assistance to prevent flooding on our farms. It costs a lot to hire tractors and harrows to create these ridges on our farms. And we cannot create the ridges without those two implements. So, let the government continue to look into that situation and things will normalise,” Mr Hunsa said.

(NAN)