The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Delta has mourned the loss of over N30.4 million worth of paddy rice and fertilizer due to the storms in Asaba.
RIFAN chairman Chief Sylvanus Ejezie told the Nigerian News Agency (NAN) in Asaba on Monday that the loss to farmers in the state was colossal.
He said that when news reached him on Sunday that the previous day’s storm had damaged the warehouse on Ibusa Road, Asaba, he thought it was a minor incident.
Lo and behold, getting there, the damage was colossal. It was a tragedy as everything in the warehouse got soaked and was destroyed by the water. I cried because everything we had worked on last year was destroyed by the rain.
“It is a heavy burden for the farmers because it was the product of the loan from the anchor borrower of RIFAN -Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the farmers for the year 2021”, lamented Ejezie.
He said it would be difficult for farmers to recover from the loss unless government at all levels came to their aid.
Furthermore, RIFAN Secretary Mr. Abraham Epochi, who led the NAN correspondent around the damaged facility, said that the loss suffered could be estimated at N30.4 million.
According to him, the downpour on Saturday night wreaked havoc; it blew off the roof and caused the wall at the rear of the warehouse to collapse and the facility was flooded.
“As you can see, 2,726 bags of NPK 201010 and NPK 20510 special mix fertilizers for rice production and these 647 75-kg bags and 3,659 100-kg bags of paddy rice are soaked and destroyed by the rain.
“The cost of fertilizer is estimated at N18.9 million, last year’s value, while paddy rice is estimated at N11.5 million lost to rain.”
He said that the efforts made to sell the paddy were futile because the rice millers said that they were so soggy that they could not recover.
“So we are calling on the federal and state governments and people of good spirit to come to our aid because the damage is enormous.
“The fertilizers have been soaked and the nutrients have been carried away by the waters, so they are no longer useful.
“We need help to be able to pay off our loans and continue with the program. We did not expect this, in fact it is a natural disaster,” said Epochi.
NAN reports that the storm is the first rain in Asaba and the surrounding area and also blew off the roofs of residential houses and warehouses in the Ibusa hub and other places in the state capital.