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Flood destroys over 460,000 hectares of cultivated land

The federal government has started taking stock of the devastation caused by this year’s flood and according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and … Continue reading Flood destroys over 460,000 hectares of cultivated land


The federal government has started taking stock of the devastation caused by this year’s flood and according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, total crop loss was put at 467,000 per hectare.

This represents 1.17 per cent of total cultivated crop area in Nigeria  with an estimated 1.2 million metric tons of crop production lost.

 The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said 12 states were worst affected by the flood and a total of 26, 827 farmers were affected in these states.

At a meeting with the 36 state commissioners of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina announced that the federal government is spending N9.7 billion to implement a flood recovery food production programme.

According to Dr Adesina, the worst affected state in terms of flooded area is Taraba state, while Anambra state suffered most in terms of cultivated area lost to flood.

The Minister revealed plans to compensate Nigerians for the losses, adding that government plans to commence the food relief programme within the next two weeks, targeting mostly women and children.

He listed the four key components of the plan, which include release of 40,000 metric tonnes of food from the strategic grain reserve to families affected directly by the flood.