Despite cost of inputs, Taraba rice farmers hopeful

Dry season farmers in Taraba State have said irrigation farming is a very profitable venture despite cost of inputs and petrol.

One of farmers, Madam Cecilia Adamu Jen, told Daily Trust on Sunday in an interview that dry season farming is more profitable than wet season farming.

She said the farmer controls watering of the crop during dry season compared to wet season where a farmer has no control.

She said in terms of yield, dry season farming offered more advantage especially if a farmer has good source of water in his farm.

• Fungal infection: Kaduna ginger farmers count losses, struggle for survival
• Tuta Absolute: Project takes pest management techniques campaign to farmers in Kano

Madam Cecilia said during the wet season, she harvests between two and three hundred bags of paddy rice but the output doubled during dry season.

She stated that though this year prices of inputs including weeds chemicals, fertilizer and petrol doubled, but farmers made profit because of bumper harvest witnessed and high demand of paddy rice.

Another dry season farmer, Abubakar Ibrahim, told Daily Trust on Sunday that rice farmers during the dry season this year witnessed bumper harvest and there was also ready market right in the farms.

Abubakar explained that farmers willing to sell their produce had ready buyers right in the farms and the middlemen role did not play out this year because the farmers determined the price of their produce.

Findings revealed that 100,000 tonnes of paddy rice were produced at Sheka, Nahuta, Donnada, Jen, Karim-Lamido, Gassol and Bantaje irrigation fields in the state.

Further findings show that hundreds of farmers came from different parts of the country and participated in dry season farming and paddy rice was the main produce.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that despite the bumper harvest, price of paddy rice did not come down but instead the price went up.

Few weeks before the harvest started, a 100kg bag of paddy rice was sold at N34,000 but the price jumped to N45,000/N46,000, it was gathered.

It was further learnt that millers from different parts of the country are in the state making bulk purchase of paddy rice, a development that caused the price to go up.