The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, has called for collective efforts to educate Nigerians on how to mitigate flooding. He was saying this at the presentation of the Executive Summary of Report of the Assessment of 2022 Flood in Nigeria: Implication on Agriculture in his office in Abuja on 2 February 2023.
The Report showed that the flood destroyed about N700 billion worth of investment in the agricultural sector; this damage included that to crops and agricultural lands, leading to reduced yields and economic losses for farmers.
The ED of NAERLS, Professor Emmanuel Ikani, who made the presentation, stated that the Recommendations of the Report, among others, are that: Dry season production of staple crops should be promoted across the country in both the formal and informal irrigation schemes to bridge the imminent food supply gap; Irrigation facilities such as tube wells, hand pumps and early maturing seed varieties should be provided to farmers. NAERLS in collaboration with State ADPs, FDAE, FDA should be funded to provide technical support to the farmers; and that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources should urgently consider building at least one dam on the Benue River for flow regulation. The long-proposed Dasin Hausa Dam in Fufore LGA of Adamawa State will serve as a buffer for the excess flow from Ladgo dam in Cameroon.
Also present at the occasion were members of NAERLS management, including the Deputy Director, Professor Sani Ahmed Yusuf; the two Assistant Directors, Professor Mohammed M. Jaliya and Professor OA Iyiola-Tunji; the Institute Secretary, Alhaji Abdu Adamu Kusfa and the Financial Officer, Barrister (Dr) Hadiza Kabir.
