Going by Nigeria’s enormous land resources, she should be counted as one of the very few countries of the world with potential to provide enough food for its teeming population, but consequent to the visit of natural disaster, flood, hunger seems to be the best company of an average Nigerian. Even with the continuous importation of food, the prices of foodstuffs have been on the increase in Nigerian markets, especially yam which is believed to be the king of other farm products.
Attributing the current scarcity of the yam in Lagos market to the raging flood, Sokoto Umar, the market leader of Alaba Rago Market, Ojo Lagos, maintained that yam supply into Mile 12 Market at Kosofe Local Government had reduced in the last few weeks because of the ongoing flood disaster that has taken over their farmlands.
According to him, “before, we used to receive between 24 and 29 trailer loads of yam every week; but now, we hardly get up to five trailer loads due to the flood disaster in the country,” he said. “Many farmers complained that their farmlands have been washed away. People are looking for yam to buy and the price is not encouraging.” he said. Painfully, Umar lamented that the flood has in a short run caused his supplier from Benue, Abuja and Kogi to quit but in other to at least have some yams to sell to buyers; he and other wholesalers had to figure out better ways just to get few tubers from the farmers based in south western Nigeria into the market. However, Umar kindly advised other agriculturists to be vigilant and take insurance policies seriously in order to avoid total loss in the persistence of the flood or any other form of attack on their farmlands. The farmer who doubles as a trader also advised the government to assist farmers with credit facilities and distribute free yam seeds to boost food production that will better the lives of the citizens.
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