Early Rains: Farmers Heave Sigh Of Relief

With the threat to
dry season farming some months ago due to lack of rain and much heat, most farmers have expressed happiness  with the setting in of the rains.
According to Chief Geoffrey Ikogha, the paramount ruler of Igboama, Ogbogolo in the Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, the early rain has saved him the ordeal of replanting all his cassava farm that suffered the excessive heat between October and December.
He said he had to replant some of his dry cassava cuttings and as soon as the rains began, most of them picked up.
For Joseph Wabudu, a plantain and banana farmer, the last dry season cost him very low harvest.
He said his plantations were located on a very sandy land and at every dried season, his plantains dry up with low yield.
Wabudu however explained that with the rains setting in, his crops “have come alive again”.
On possible ways of checkmating the dry season in order to save his farms, he said since irrigation was not practised in this part of the country there was no alternative.
“Farmers here only pray and hope that the weather would not be harsh always”, he said.