Farmers in the Hinna community of the Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State experienced drastic losses following erratic rainfall this year.

Zakari Ladan, the head farmer in the community, recounted his members’ losses in an interview in Hinna Community on Monday.

Mr Ladan said that low and irregular rainfall led to poor harvests, affecting most farmers.

He recounted that in Hinna Community, over 2,000 farmers were affected in varying degrees, with some selling or abandoning their farmlands for herders to graze their cattle.

Mr Ladan said the 2026 farming season was a huge loss for most farmers, as many used their resources to procure agricultural inputs that did not yield the anticipated returns on investment.

“The erratic rainfall has seriously affected our yield; the downpour didn’t come as expected, and even the little rain that fell in early October couldn’t salvage the situation. Many farmers have left their farmlands for herders at no cost, to allow their cattle to graze on them.

“A small-scale farmer, who hoped to get between eight and ten bags of rice, cannot boast of any, while those who usually harvest up to 40 bags are getting only four or five bags.

“Farming this year is a huge loss to us, as many of us invested our resources into agricultural inputs, yet no reasonable yield. We are scared of hunger; we have no hope of what to eat,” he said.

Mr Ladan lamented that hiring labourers to harvest crops on farmlands is impossible because the cost of the harvested produce would not be enough to pay their wages.

According to him, many farmers had to source money elsewhere to pay labourers who harvested their crops, leaving many farmers in debt.

“Some who invested over N500,000 may not get up to N300,000, while some lost over 80 per cent of their investments.

“Just go to the farms and see the massive damage and impact of climate change; it is really an unpleasant situation for farmers this year,” he said.

Mr Ladan, however, urged the government at all levels and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to quickly intervene, especially in irrigation farming, because most people in the community relied solely on farming.

Similarly, Dauda Hassan, a smallholder rice farmer, urged the government to support farmers with agricultural inputs.

He claimed that erratic rainfall was a result of climate change becoming a serious threat, not just to food security but to income and survival.

“We need urgent inputs and improved seeds so that we can cultivate early during the dry season and harvest early in 2027 to avert major food crises in the state and country,” he said. 

(NAN)