River state farmers in flood-affected communities have begun harvesting their farm crops prematurely for fear of losing their entire produce to flood, as it occurred last year.

Devastated by the perennial flooding, affected farming communities of Engenni, Ahoada, Joinkrama, Ndoni, Omoku, Egi, Etche, Obite, Egbeda, Oyigbo, Okarki, Mbiama, Ukwuizi are taking the premature harvesting option to avoid heavy losses.

Resident of Joinkrama, in Ahoada West Local Government Area, Mike Alasi, said farmers in the affected areas have started premature harvest of their farm produce because they do not want to lose everything to the flood as it happened to them last year.

According to Alasi, premature harvest of farm produce has become a norm in the area due to the fact that farms have been covered in flood and produce have been destroyed annually since 2012 till date.

In Alasi’s words, “What is happening now is that there is panic in the communities, especially among those on the shores of the Orashi River and some people are engaging in premature harvesting of cassava and other crops.

“Between 2012 and 2019 our farmers have been at the receiving end of flooding a huge amount of agricultural produce have been washed away. So at the peak of every rainy season farmers hurriedly harvest their crops to cut losses,’’ he said.

It was also reported that poultry and fish farmers were also affected by the flooding in the state. A poultry farm located in Oyigbo, by the Aba/Port-Harcourt road was washed away by flood, with witnesses reporting that it lost about 500 birds to the disaster.

Source: AgroNigeria