``We have small-holder sugarcane producers and we have the confluence sugar producers who have about 20,000 hectares of land swept away.
``In as much as we welcome the Federal Governments’ intervention, we still appeal to the minister to critically look at the case of sugarcane farmers in Kogi,” he said.
The Federal Government had put in place through the Ministry of Agriculture, a Flood Recovery Food Production programme for states affected by the flood.
The programme is to distribute food to families affected directly by the flood and also distribute seedlings and farm inputs to farmers whose farmlands have been affected.
Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the distribution of seeds and fertilisers for the farmers affected by the floods would start in the next two weeks.
Similarly, the Bauchi State Commissioner for Agriculture, Tasiu Mohammed, said plans by the State Government were underway to manage the effect of the flood in the state.
He said that rice farmlands had been affected during the flood and therefore, wheat production would replace rice production in order to avoid loss after planting.
``We cannot plant rice this season because the weather is not favourable; the flood and the harmattan will be a double loss, so we advise our farmers to plant wheat instead.
``The State Government would make available the wheat seeds to them and possibly free fertilisers or subsidised fertilisers, to encourage them,’’ he said.
NAN
