An environmental expert, Ms Gloria Bulus, has proffered workable solutions to prevent loss of agro-produce due to flooding.
Bulus, the founder of Bridge-that-Gap Initiative, a non-profit environmental sustainability association, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
She reiterated the need for good planning, adoption of smart agriculture practices among others to quell the loss of agro-produce due to flood incidences.
“Good planning can prevent washing away of agro-produce by flood due to the continuous rains.
“Having a drainage system is one of the most common planned response to reduce flood risks on farmlands.
“It is very difficult to recover loss of crops by flood; it is very important to prevent flood from occurring or mitigate its impact.
“Farmers have a lot a responsibility on their part to protect the farmlands and its produce. Farmers can adopt climate smart agricultural practices that addresses the issue of flood.
“Such farming systems like zero tillage should be adopted by farmers,” Bulus said.
She noted that soil disturbance during farming should be greatly minimised to keep the soils particles in place as much as possible.
“Another effective measure is the mulching of farmlands which will benefit both the crops, the soil and the soil structure,” the expert told NAN.
Bulus also suggested the adoption of conservation practices to prevent excessive floods from damaging the crops.
She called for the right legislation and emergency relief for farmers by the government to boost food security.
“Another strategy that can help is to improve water infiltration, which is the rate at which water gets through the surface and into the soil.
“Emergency planning for farmers including early warning systems will be helpful with effective forecasting techniques, risk knowledge and information dissemination should put in place.
“If these issues are not addressed, the aftermath will be a decline in food production (low yield) creating scarcity and high prices of food, and shortage of seed amongst others,” Bulus said.
