Yobe farmers optimistic of bumper harvests

Some farmers in Yobe have expressed optimism about the probability of recording bumper harvests this year.

They made their feelings known in an interview in Damaturu just as they commence harvesting of their produce.

Malam Abba Umar, a farmer in Damaturu, said that he had started harvesting, alongside other farmers at Sindiri village in the state.

“Some of us who commenced planting earlier than others are now harvesting, while those who planted late will wait a little while.

“The yields from the ongoing harvests are quite promising and unlike what happened last year, we are all celebrating,” he said.

Modu Mustapha, a civil servant who engages in subsistence farming in Katarko village, Yobe, said that the rains had been steady and good for the crops.

“The rain this year has been steady, unlike last year when most farms dried up because it stopped abruptly without the grains maturing.

“Last year, it was very bad for beans and groundnut farmers, as they recorded poor yield, but the signs are better this year,” he said.

Mustapha, however, appealed to the state government to provide farm inputs to farmers in good time, to boost production.

Kolo Gaji, another farmer based in Dapchi town of Bursari Local Government Area of the state, said that the steady rains had protected the crops from the menace of pests and insects.

“When the rain is low, as was the case last year, the pests fed on the crops and this resulted in poor harvests, but the steady rain this year has kept the pests away, and we are expecting very good harvests,” he said.

Millet, sorghum, rice, beans, groundnut and sesame seeds are the common crops cultivated across the state.