Farmers Decry Low Crop Yields

Farmers in Ohafia Local Government area of Abia  State have complained of low crop yields due to lack of fertilizer.

The Tide reports that the area produces major staples such as melon, cassava, maize and yam in the South East geopolitical zone.

Speaking with The Tide in Ebem Ohafia, the farmers said that all their crops failed.

Mrs Glory Okorie, a farmer in Ebem Ohafia, described the 2012 farming season as a “complete disaster”, adding: “all our crops failed.

“You cannot point at any single farmer that his crops did well this year and this has raised some concerns on the availability of seedlings next year.”

Similarly, Mrs Onyekachi Kalu, another farmer, said: “We waited to be supplied with fertiliser to no avail and this may have accounted for the low crop yield this year.”

She said that the low crop yield mostly affected those who could not apply fertiliser to their crops “but more than two-thirds of farmers were affected.

“We tried to procure fertiliser but the prices were too much for us.’’

However, Mr Dunlop Okoro, the Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Abia State chapter, said that the low crop yield could be peculiar to Ohafia local government area.

“In certain areas of the state, some farmers are talking of good harvest, but generally we have the problem of fertiliser.

“Most farmers could not get fertiliser this year because the arrangement to supply us with some fertilisers did not work.”

He said that officials of AFAN would do everything possible to address the cause of the low crop yield in parts of the state.

“We shall endeavor to find out what happened to the crops to forestall future occurrence,” Okoro said.