Farmers Decry Scanty Rainfall In Enugu

Farmers in Enugu State have expressed deep concern over scanty rainfall in different parts of the state since the beginning of this year.

They warned that if the situation does not improve, there may be a shortage of food, as experienced last year.
The farmers who expressed their feelings in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Enugu said the ugly development was not palatable.

A farmer who deals in vegetables, Mr Ignatius Okonkwo attributed the high cost of commodities in the market to scanty rainfall.

” Honestly, I’m not happy over scanty rainfall in Enugu State. It has rained just two times since this year, and the rainfalls were not even heavy.

” If the situation does not improve, I can’t predict what will happen, especially to the prices and availability of food items. Already, the prices of vegetables are on the high side,” he stated.

Another farmer, Mrs Abigail Mbakwe said she was worried over the development, stating that they depend on rainfall for their farming.

” You know that in this part of the country, we don’t have enough irrigation facilities like in the northern part of the country and that is why we are worried over the scanty rainfall this year.

” In less than one week from today we will be in March and yet the rains are not coming, honestly it is not funny because we do not want a repeat of what happened last year.”

Others who spoke to our correspondent said the development has forced them to embrace sack farming but said the system is not too good for commercial farming.