Katsina: Living under threat of desert encroachment
ManycommunitiesinKatsina State, especially those in 10 local government areas bordering Niger Republic, are under the threat of desert encroachment which poses a great danger to agriculture, food security and water resources in the areas.
The affected local governments are Daura, Maiadua, Zango, Sandamu, Baure, Jibia, Kaita, Mashi and Katsina.
Governor Aminu Bello Masari had recently sounded the alarm that the state was losing about five kilometres annually to desertification and called for greater attention to address the alarming situation.
The governor, who was speaking at the commissioning of the Green project initiated by the Yusuf Bala Usman College of Legal and General Studies, Daura.
According to him, the state had lost its forest and had only shrubs and grasses left, noting that the adverse effects were manifesting already.
Residents of the affected areas are facing threat to livelihoods as their farms are becoming barren by the day, thereby recording drop in production with many abandoning their places in search for unavailable fertile lands to farm.
Malam Musa of Gahoni village in Jibia Local Government said the sandstorms over the years were increasingly putting them at risk of low production on their farms. He said it was always scary when it happened with their farm produce covered in sand which also affected the development of the plants.
He said though he could not relocate due to old age, he could see the significant drop whenever he went to his farm and compared its harvest now and what obtained before.
Another resident, who gave his name as Bishir, said their family land had to be shared again among the members as they were fast losing it to desert encroachment. He said some family members had relocated to the cities for other ventures as they kept recording losses in farm production. “No matter what you apply in terms of manure the plants can’t deliver as expected,” he said.
Similar scenarios and tales were replicated in most of the areas visited in the state.
A resident of Babban Mutum in Baure Local Government, Auwal Mohammed, said: “Our people just farm for farming sake but not with the intention to reap and even make profit. The land is completely dead. The few that can afford local manure do get a little out of it but majority have abandoned farming for the cities to make ends meet.
“Visit Cinayi, Ba Gemu and Salai villages and see the effect of the desert on vast land areas that can’t be cultivated. The people just plant for planting sake; that’s just it.
“It is worst during the dry season when our wells are dry. Women and children trek long distances to get water. We sometimes use animals to draw water because of the depth of the wells,” he added.
At Randa village in Mashi Local Government, Abubakar Yusuf lamented how the soil nature was yielding low and forcing him and his siblings to work harder to make ends meet.
He said the loose sand makes it hard to grow and have abundant yield of crops like millet and corn.
We have just resolved to farm produce that support our land like watermelon which has a comparative advantage when planted here.
A visit to Birnin Kuka, a border community also showed massive devastation caused by desertification, with crops buried by sand as a result of a sandstorm that blanketed several farms within the week.
Conducting our correspondent round his millet farm, Malam Kabir Muntari said despite the huge efforts he had put through labour, he was not expecting a bounty harvest, pointing that most of the villagers face the same fate, even as he added that there houses and animals were also at risk.
For Malam Isa, it was a complete and total loss as his whole beans farm was washed away after a rainfall. He said the soil was loose up and so it swept all the farm produce.
He said many people in communities of Kasanki, Dandana, Majigiri had been counting losses after their farmlands were washed away.
Babangida Jujin-Jigawa of Tashar Lalu village of Kaita Local Government Area fears that with time farming may become impossible, given the continuous decline in outputs being recorded by farmers.
He said despite the cost of farming, the output was nothing to write home about even if one was lucky to have survived the sandstorms, washed up farms and locust invasions.
He called on government to help them address the situation, saying the loss of farm produce had made many people to move out of the village to other places like Sabon Sara, Kakis and other villages with less environmental challenges.
The chairman of Daura Emirate Development Forum, Professor Muhammad Kalla, said a massive mobilization at local and national levels for action against desert encroachment was needed to address the ugly trend.
He said that was what informed the organization’s sensitization on action needed to reverse the trend.
“At present, agricultural activities along the Sahel belt of Nigeria are threatened by desert encroachment. If you look carefully, feed for livestock in this particular area is becoming a problem, especially at the end of the dry season like now,” he said.
Professor Kalla attributed the loss to indiscriminate felling of trees that exposed the emirate to the dangers of desertification, loss of soil fertility and other effects of climate change, among others.
He called on all and sundry to at least plant a tree and nurse it to maturity as their contribution to measures to prevent desertification and soil degradation in the LGA which, he said, was the most vulnerable.
“So you can be sure if their livestock are not well fed, pastoralists will not have surplus to take to the market and get money. So that is why we are looking at it as a threat and we have to do something about it. And the way we are doing it is by organizing enlightenment campaigns, like this lecture, to at least, bring awareness on the situation and offer some solutions,” he said
Also, a lecturer in the Department of Geography, Umaru Musa Yaradua University, Dr. Lawal Abdulrashid Funtua, said climate change the world over was becoming a great threat to existence.
He said, we must work hard by adhering to safe and healthy environmental practices to address the situation and to safeguard our future.
The don said during his recent collection of data at six most vulnerable borders, analysis from the data showed high loss of biodiversity of trees, shrubs and grasses.
“At Bumbum in Maiadua, during a focused group discussion, residents of the
Residents of the affected areas are facing threat to livelihoods as their farms are becoming barren by the day, thereby recording drop in production with many abandoning their places in search for unavailable fertile lands to farm
area complained of how so many of their trees were dying due to adverse weather conditions and so many others problems that they can no longer see,” he said
An environmental specialist and retired director of forestry in the state, Sade Abdullahi, attributed the gradual deterioration of the environment to persistent deforestation, overgrazing and faulty farming practices. These, he said, affected the socio-economic lives of the inhabitants that increased human activities coupled with non-adherence to legislations.
He said man’s unhealthy actions on the land were the main causes of these menace which included fuel wood demand, exploitation and extraction of other forest products, encroachment and conversion of forest areas to farmland and other purposes, over grazing by animals, poaching and bush burning, fast growing population and mining activities.
“The result of all these actions is desertification which gives rise to desert condition in the communities that are outside the climate desert,” he said.
He listed some observable indications of desertification features to include deflation of the resource base that is forest and grazing reserves, spread of poverty, idleness, hunger and unemployment, reduction and failures of farm crops and livestock, low rainfall, drying of plants and animals as well as their habitat and forced migration and conflict between and among groups over resources that are in short supply.
Worried by the threat of desertification on communities in the state, several forums, institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have embarked on mass sensitization and education of the populace on the need to adhere to best environmental practices.
One of such interventions were spearheaded by the Federal University Dutsinma were 2000 seedlings were planted at its permanent site, the Umaru Musa Yaradua University, and recently the College of Legal Studies in Daura, one of the worst hit areas were 300 persons were provided with 10,000 eucalyptus seedlings to be planted.
According to Governor Masari, while lamenting the speed at which desert was encroaching unto communities thereby putting the lives of the people at great risk, the situation called for enlightenment for the people to embrace the culture of planting and desisting from felling of trees.
While acknowledging the efforts of successive governments through which over 200 woodlots had been established over the years, indiscriminate felling of trees had become the order of the day.
Every day hundreds of trucks filled with firewood are common sight across the state. Illegal businesses are becoming rampant with people thronging government reserved areas cutting down trees for sale to unsuspecting people.
Abdul-aziz Hassan, a director at the state Ministry of Environment and officer overseeing the implementation of the Great Green Wall (GGW), said effort to implement the Great Green Wall Project, which seeks to establish shelter belts in dry regions of the world, was among steps taken to address the adversity of desertification.
He said the proximity of the areas to the Sahara made them more vulnerable, adding that: “We are giving them special focus in terms of measures in desertification control.
“These local government areas are provided with amenities that will mitigate the effects of desertification as well as provide alternative sources of trade for the locals.”
The GGW programme was conceived with the objective of improving the resilience of human system, ecosystem, natural resources, protecting the rural heritage both tangible and intangible, creating rural hubs for production and sustainable development as well as improving the livelihood of over 30 million people through employment generation, creation of wealth, improved agricultural activities and rehabilitation of over two million hectares of degraded land.
The components of the programme entail the establishment of shelterbelts and promotion of agro forestry, establishment of woodlots, efficiency in the use of fuel wood and alternatives, establishment of plantations of economic trees, land rehabilitation and resource management, extension and awareness creation, promotion of infrastructures and promotion of human livelihood activities.
However, three years into the scheme non-release of funds and commitment from stakeholders is greatly affecting the lofty idea. Two years ago, a total of 28km of the shelterbelt starting from Gurbin Baure in Jibia local government which connected with Zurmi local government in Zamfara State was established.
It was expected that another 27km will be established to cover Baure and Zango local governments and connect with that established by Jigawa State at Shabarun Jeke village in Sule Tankarkar local government.
The project is said to have suffered severely due to fund release.
Taking a closer look at the state’s this year’s budget shows that there is no budget line specifically stated for GGW in the 2016 appropriation bill. However, the entire Ministry of Environment was allocated N3,331,428,450.
Some of the provisions made therein are as follows, ecological has the lion chunk with N3 billion, waste management N185,000,000, drought and desertification N142,000,000 and planning, research and statistics with N4,428,450.
Unfortunately, with the year almost through, no significant achievement can be said to have been recorded.
At present, agricultural activities along the Sahel belt of Nigeria are threatened by desert encroachment. If you look carefully, feed for livestock in this particular area is becoming a problem, especially at the end of the dry season like now