Dry season watermelon farmers experienced a serious setback following poor harvest as a result of diseases and pests in Bara village, which is the hub of watermelon farming in Kirfi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Findings indicate that the hike in fuel price due to the removal of subsidy and poor yield during the last farming season discouraged many watermelon farmers, leading them to abandon it and opt for maize and other vegetables, while hundreds of young farmers relocated to Taraba State and the Republic of Cameroon to continue their watermelon farming.

A watermelon farmer in Bara, Isa Danazumi, said dry season watermelon farmers witnessed poor harvest due to diseases and pests’ attacks that defied all manners of pesticides and control.

“We don’t know the real problem this season because when watermelon is planted, the farmer faces two challenges. It is either the root of the plant dies while growing or after the plant produces the fruits, it will produce small sized watermelon.”

Danazumi said, “We are yet to know the real cause of the problem but we observed that the disease might be killing the roots of the plants because when you remove the dead plant, it would look like it’s burnt and sometimes it is attacked by stubborn pests that have defied control by insecticide.

“Many watermelon farmers decided to abandon the dry season farming because for the past three years, the situation has continued to deteriorate and we are unable to tackle the challenges. You invest huge resources in farming, including other logistics, but end up with poor harvest or without getting nothing during the harvest period. That is why many watermelon farmers opted for other crops and vegetables that have less challenges.

“Although I have planted watermelon in small quantity, I decided to focus more on maize, cucumber and sweet melon. Already, the watermelon is witnessing very poor yield and tiny fruits from which I can hardly recover what I spent on the farm,” Danazumi said.

Corroborating Danazumi, another farmer, Abubakar Ahmadu Tasha Turmi, said he dropped watermelon farming because, “You will spend money to cultivate watermelon and do all the necessary things, especially spraying the pesticide and insecticide as well as application of fertilizer, but end up with poor harvest and losing your capital.”

Ahmadu explained that watermelon farmers were not able to recover what they invested due to poor yield. “Farmers who were known to produce trucks of watermelon could not get even a few bags of the fruit. Another disturbing trend this season is the inability of the farmers to harvest anything from their farms. Watermelon farming has been the only source of livelihood to thousands of farmers in Bara because watermelon has been our only business for both rainy and dry season farming. These poor harvests have unsettled many of us.

“Many of our young and agile youth who specialise in watermelon farming had to leave Bara and move to Taraba while a good number of them went to the Republic of Cameroon to continue with watermelon farming because majority of them cannot sit idle without anything to do," he said.

Another watermelon farmer Danazumi A. Abdullahi told Daily Trust on Sunday that, “We have been in this business for over 40 years but what is happening is gradually threatening watermelon to become history, especially dry season one. We are having the challenge of pests’ attack and an unknown disease that is very stubborn.

“For the past three years, I have been witnessing loses especially in dry season farming of watermelon because even this season, I was unable to even recover the money for the seeds not to talk of other expenses and equipment used in the farm. The watermelon is grown at the initial stage looking good after spraying insecticide and applying fertiliser but when the stage of producing the fruits start, a certain disease or pests would swarm the plant and kill it from the roots. In some instances, when you reapply insecticide, the plant would produce small fruits. We hardly harvest big fruits from which we can recover our expenses. That is the reason why majority of watermelon farmers abandoned it and resorted to maize and other vegetables, especially green and red pepper.

“Unfortunately, even the pepper has not been spared by the insects. It has ravaged many farms here in Bara and neighbouring communities. When they attack the plant, it destroys both the fruit and leaves completely. We have used all manners of insecticide and not successful. We have reported to the local government Agric officials but nothing has been done yet,” Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi added, “We are appealing to the Bauchi State government to intervene, especially to investigate and find a lasting solution to these diseases and insects threatening watermelon farming because if care is not taken, majority of farmers would completely abandon watermelon farming which has been the main source of livelihood for thousands of farmers in Bara and neighboring LGAs. We need the government to ascertain the problem and improve on the method and other skills to preserve this heritage of our people because many of young farmers have moved to Taraba and the Republic of Cameroon to cultivate watermelon.”

A major watermelon farmer and trader Alhaji Adamu Sarkin Yamma Bara said the farmers are witnessing the worst harvests in recent decades.

“We have brought various pesticides and insecticides and invited extension workers to examine the situation but all efforts have proved abortive. We don’t really know how to handle the situation because we have applied many methods which have proved unsuccessful. Watermelon is the main occupation and source of livelihood for every family in Bara because watermelon farming is synonymous with Bara.”

Adamu said more than 80 per cent of farmers who take the risk to plant watermelon either lose their capital or half of it because of poor yield of the commodity.

“Watermelon farmers have shifted to other crops like rice, maize and vegetables, especially tomatoes, pepper and green beans. The bad experience witnessed in the last three seasons is the reason why many decided to switch over to other crops.

“As I am talking to you, over 400 watermelon farmers who are indigenes of Bara have moved to Taraba and a good number of them have gone to Gurun in the Republic of Cameroon. These are young farmers who specialise in watermelon farming. Some of them plant the watermelon there and come to sell it in Nigeria. The main challenge in Bara is that we are using a local method of production while there were modern ways of growing watermelon. We want the critical stakeholders to conduct research to ascertain the scientific cause of the problem.

“We cannot stop appealing to the state government to come to our aid because we have made several pleas but until now, there has not been any response. That notwithstanding, we are still appealing to the government to intervene by sending experts to come and analysis these stubborn insects and diseases in order to alleviate the sufferings of farmers and also tackle the migration of our young farmers from their ancestral homes to neighbouring countries for farming activities,” Adamu added. (Daily Trust)

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