Farmers of Pepper in Bauchi State have attributed poor flow of income from the proceeds made from selling their commodity to the gradual manifestation of the spiral effects of global warming on their farming business in recent years.
Malam Ibrahim Baraza who has been practising irrigation along Gwallaga stream for the last 20 years in an exclusive interview with our reporter said what they have been hearing about global warming mostly on foreign media has now knocked on their doors.
The farmer lamented that global warming “is fast changing the fortunes of pepper farmers and their families.”
He said that climate change is now more glaring to them appearing in the language of irrigation which is the best language they understand as it drained their pockets.
He said that the nature of the soil on which they have been practising the age-long business has altered from being black fertile loamy to poor grey sandy soil which is not good at moisture retention thus gives low yields.
Malam Ibrahim said that he spent a lot of money to buy fuel he uses to water his farm at an interval of not more than two days because of the loamy nature of the soil he irrigates on.
He said that pests are oftentimes on the spat because the weather has become conducive for them to survive on their pepper leaving them with no option but to expend more resources on pest control through the application of herbicides and pesticides to save what was planted to avoid total failure.
“The time at which we plant pepper now is not as we used to in the past. In those days we used to transplant pepper to the site from the nursery around February but today you cannot dare try that because you will end up wasting your time and resources without getting anything,” he said of the changes of pepper planting time.
Malam Ibrahim said that these trends spelt doom in the coffers of farmers of pepper in Bauchi State owing to low and poor yields particularly at this time when the economy beats harder.
Ishaq Mailabu Zango, another farmer of pepper said that they count so many negativities in the past few years mainly due to flooding traditionally occasioned by extreme weather events which have been causing damage to their crops.
“Sometimes when the river overflows escaping into our farms, one has to replant again if seed is available but in the event that seed is not available, one has to bear with the situation and bade goodbye to his farm too early than expected or planned.
“The moment we see the sky got pregnant, we have our hands on our chest out fear of the unknown that might be delivered off”, he said.
