Former commissioner wants Delta govt. to provide irrigation for farming


Mr Jerry Ossai, former Commissioner for Agriculture in Delta, has called on the state government to work towards ensuring all-year farming in the state.
Ossai made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN in Asaba on Sunday.
To make the all-year farming possible, he urged the state government to provide irrigation infrastructure in strategic farming locations in the state to enable farmers to cultivate more crops.
"There is no possibility of irrigation in the state because the basic infrastructure is not there.
"But, the state government should now begin to think all-year-round crop farming by providing irrigation infrastructure such as basic reservoirs in localities, irrigation canals, pumping stations, among others," he said.
Ossai, who is also a former chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in the state, said that the measure would boost food production and create more employment in the state.
He said that some farmers in the state who planted crops during the early rains in the year were now regretting because of the current drought.
He said that the farmers failed to heed the warning of the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMet) against planting during the early rains.
Ossai, however, said that the farmers would not have experienced difficulties if there had been proper irrigation facilities in the state.
He expressed fears that if the drought persisted, the farmers would sustain more losses.
Meanwhile, one of the farmers who planted crops with the early rains has expressed worries over lack of rains to grow the crops.
The farmer, Mr Silver Ejezie, who has a rice farm in Omelugboma, near Asaba, said that he cultivated a portion of his farmland but that the crop was already withering due to the drought.
"Although we have a borehole in the farm, it is not enough to irrigate the portion we have planted.

"We are begging the state government to provide us with more boreholes in the farm to take care of the situation and enable us do all-year-round planting," Ejezie said. 

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