About 2,000 hectares of farmland have been Reportedly destroyed by floodwater across the three districts of Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State.
This was disclosed by the special adviser to the state Governor on Emergency and Relief Services, Duro Mohammed while inspecting the havoc caused by floods in Patigi on Saturday.
According to Mohammed rice farms in Lade, Patigi and Sepondi districts cultivated near the River Niger were mostly affected as well as a clinic, a cemetery and a primary school at Gbaradogi.
The governor’s aide, who led the state government’s delegation to the flooded farms, described the damage as devastating.
Some of the affected farmers, who spoke with journalists, lamented that the rice produce had just ripened for harvest before the flooding.
Speaking also with journalists the head of Gbaradogi community, Alhaji Muhammadu Saadu, said rice and fish farms were washed away.
Saadu called on the federal and state governments to immediately come to their aid to ameliorate their suffering.
According to NAN reports, the state government delegation also inspected the internally displaced persons’ camp under construction by the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.
Mohammed urged the Federal Government to come to the aid of the state, saying the magnitude of the disaster was too much for the state to bear alone.
He also called for urgent dredging of River Niger and construction of a drain that would permanently secure the rice farms against flooding in the future.
The Etsu Patigi, Mr. Ibrahim Chatta Umar, expressed concern over perennial flooding in the area.
The monarch also suggested that dredging of River Niger and construction of drains would permanently save the community from disaster.
Umar said the flood had increased poverty level in the community, noting that compensation was not enough to ameliorate the suffering of the predominantly farming indigenes.
Source: NAN
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