Former Chairman Tasks Farmers On Resilience

Former chairman of Abua/Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State, Hon. Raphael Ekpelu has called on farmers who were affected by the last flood in the area to pool their individual and collective efforts by being strong in facing the challenges ahead.

Hon Ekpelu who spoke to our correspondent in an exclusive interview recently in Port Harcourt said the government and the governed were partnership such that one complements the other.

While stressing the fact that government did not intentionally destroy anybody’s farm, it has been magnanimous enough by trying to help the farmers resettle in order to ensure that the negative impact of the flood does not affect them adversely.

He said the governments had been doing their best through the provision of agric inputs and other necessities of life.

“The farmers on their own part should equally try their best from their personal resource while government do their best also”, he said.

He further explained that anything that had to do with the consequences of the flood was a continuous process just as the state government and public spirited individuals and NGOs were contributing their quota.

On the challenges faced by farmers during the dry season in the area, the former council boss said so long as the seasons could not be predicted, dry season in this part of the country was not harsh.

“I think we have enough water and we don’t experience drought.

“The farms here in the South are located where we have enough water”, he said.

On why the federal government built dams and does irrigation only in the Northern part of the country, Hon. Ekpelu explained that irrigation was alien to this part of the world.

He said the terrain in the North and South was not the same even as she said the South was at the rain belt and has no need for irrigation.

He said this was why dams had not been built here before and being in the rain forest area we should always be patient for the coming of the rains to come.

“Most of all, we are in the rain forest belt so we are all aware that there are periods that we must patiently waite for rain to come.

“In short, this is the rain belt and it comes anytime anywhere “any minute anytime you can wake up and find rain falling even during the hamattan period we find rain here, so irrigation is not necessary here”, he said.