How low rain spell affects sorghum output in Niger
From Ahmed Tahir Ajobe, Minna
It is harvest season for sorghum, but they are dampened spirit and low enthusiasm across fields in Niger like in most states in the North where the crop is one of the major cereal product.
In many sorghum farms across the state complains of low output occasioned by low rain spell during the 2017 cropping season were rife.
Our correspondent observed that most of the farmers affected were those who planted local varieties. However even those planted improved varieties do not share contrary experiences.
Statistics of the yearly production indicates that Nigeria produced 2.8 million metric tons of sorghum, making it the largest producer of the crop in West Africa.
It is mostly cultivated in states like Bauchi, Adamawa, Jigawa, Kebbi, Taraba, Plateau, Katsina, Sokoto and Niger.
Ibrahim Haruna Manta, the Zonal Programme Coordinator of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme Phase 1 (ATASP-1) in Badeggi-Badegi Crop Processing Zone agreed that Nigeria’s target output would be at its lowest ebb this year because of low rain spell even with the various federal government programmes targeting higher output through improved varieties.
Our correspondents learnt that ATASP-1 in Bida-Badeggi Zone alone has about 3000 sorghum profile farmers in its programme with about 18 communities involved.
According to the Zonal Outreach Specialist, Aishetu Ruth Aliyu, almost all the communities had four to five of rainfall this season, which didn’t even come every day.
“The varieties we are using are CSR-01, CSR-02, Samsorg 5912, Zuna Inuwa. All these varieties need at least 10 weeks rainfall without spell for high grain production,” she explained.
She said further that improved sorghum varieties for high grain production need at least nine to ten weeks of rain fall, while local varieties require six to seven months rainfall.
According to her, ATASP-1 targets 150 metric tons of sorghum output in 2017. However due to low rain spell, we are expecting lesser output. Many of our farmers last year, harvested 1.5 tons per hectare because of adequate rainfall but this year we are not likely to get 1.0 metric tons,” she said.
She said the situation is made more complicated due to lack of irrigation system occasioned by low funding.
Like the ATASP experience, officials of the State Coordinating office of Fadama III Additional Financing lamented the low rain spell which they said significantly affected the target output across the programes’s sorghum clusters.
Under the Fadama III Additional Financing, rice was the initial mandate crop for the state with implementation focusing in area designated as the ‘rice belt’.
However due to popular demand, sorghum was added shortly after the 4th Joint World Bank/FGN supervision mission in January, 2016.
The initiative’s targeted beneficiaries were smallholder households’ farmers that were already engaged in the production of sorghum on operational holdings of 0.25 to 2 hectares.
The project also seeks to encourage young farmers-the agropreneurs who were the new entrants into agricultural enterprise, on average operational holdings of 2 to 5 hectares.
These smallholder household farmers were organised into Sorghum Production Group within a community of 10 to 15 members referred to as cluster with each producing a business plan.
The business plans provided the basis for project investment in the production clusters.
Our correspondent learnt that a total of 1, 800 hectares were cultivated in the wet season of 2016 across 21 clusters. The State coordinator of the programme Engineer Aliyu Kutigi said the output at the end of the farming was encouraging.
He said the contrary was however the case at the end of the 2017 season due to low rain spells.
And the signs came early August as the rainfall became irregular and erratic.
Experts said water stress at the vegetative stage alone can reduce yield more than 34 percent, while the same stress at the reproductive stage can lower yield more than 53 percent.
Our correspondent learnt that the situation was more compounded by the absence of technology that can improve water availability.
Added to this was lack of tentative plans for irrigation that would fuel sorghum production during the dry season as is the case with rice due to fund challenge.
“We would love to apply artificial water at the cessation of rain but lack of fund hinders such plan because irrigation implements are very expensive,” Aishetu Ruth Aliyu said.
Our correspondent also learnt that the State Coordinating Office of Fadama has also not commenced irrigation system across its sorghum clusters.
Mrs. Aliyu averred that most of the sorghum varieties that headed were the improved varieties. “This shows that the improved varieties can perform better than local varieties during rain spell with moisture content,” she explained.
But most sorghum farmers across the state still make do with the local varieties.
Manta said with early cessation of rain and prolonged dry periods their growth become stunted.
He observed that the drought reduced nutrient uptake by roots; created restricted transpiration rates and impaired active transport as well as membrane permeability.
He said such complexity gives room for pest and sorghum ergot and the resultant weak growth as well as weak defense system.
So across sorghum fields in Lavun, Gbako, Wushishi, Katcha, Edati, Bida, Mariga and Rijau local government areas among others, such condition were prevalent.
Malam Musa Suleiman, a sorghum farmer in Manyisa in Lavun local government area said the situation could not have been worse than this season. “Last season, I had six bags but I cannot boast of three bags this year,” he said. His position was echoed by Abdulkadir Auna in Paiko, Ndasu Aliyu and others.
Mrs Aliyu suggested massive awareness on the need for farmers to embrace improved varieties, which can be accessed at the beginning of the wet season and an articulated plan by various tiers of government to encourage irrigation farming to supplement the wet season among others.