vulnerable farmers in Dachia community were able to stay and engage in livelihoods activities despite the floods, thanks to the dyke constructed, one of the many dykes built by FAO through the German-funded project in Adamawa and Yobe states.

Abuja - “Two years ago, I planted two bags of rice seed, but the floods washed away the entire field, I could not even get seeds to plant during the following season. Then came flood alerts, warning us of the imminent disaster. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also introduced the construction of dykes to control the movement of water. I was able to harvest 95 bags of rice paddy at the end of the season”.

Balan Gombe, 55 and father of 14, is one of the hundreds of farmers living in the Dansin Hausa community, in Fufore local government area, Adamawa state, northeastern Nigeria. As most farmers there, he cultivates his rice farms by the bank of the Gongola River that traverses part of the village and offloads into the larger Benue River. Flooding is not new to community members, yet every year, they suffer huge losses mainly due to the absence of reliable weather forecast. This changed in early 2023, when FAO put in place Anticipatory Actions, including flood alerts.

To safeguard the critical livelihoods assets, such as crops and livestock, of communities living in areas prone to severe flooding, FAO implemented the project entitled “Anticipatory Action for flood risk in the Sahel”, thanks to funding from Germany through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities. In northeastern Nigeria, project activities were carried out in Adamawa and Yobe states.

A strategic solution to a complex challenge

The project aimed to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable farming communities against forecast floods through early warning, early actions measures to be put in place before the disaster, such as the construction of dykes along the river bank and flooding areas to protect people’s livelihoods and productive assets. 

Gombe cultivates rice every year, but often when the river overflows most of it is washed away; 2022 was the worst year for him, “I could not even recover the seeds to plant for the following season, I lost everything”. With the support received through the project, Gombe planted in March, “by May I tilled the rice, by June the waters had started rising up, that was when FAO started engaging us in the construction of dykes with sacks filled with sand. Some people that came to help us laughed at what we were doing, but we never stopped”.

“As the water from the river continued to rise, it never got to my farm. Because whenever the water rose to the level of the dykes, it receded to its banks. The rains became heavier in June and by September, when the water started rising uncontrollably and overtook the dykes, we had already harvested in August. And I obtained my 95 bags of rice”, he said with a spark in his eyes.

“Thanks to the Anticipatory Actions put in place, we were prepared this time”, said the head of village, Dansin Hausa Shittu Ahmadu. “We were trained on constructing dykes that served as a temporary barrier against floods. It withheld the waters for some time, during which people were able to evacuate their livestock and other critical assets ahead of time. This minimized the losses we had previously experienced.”

Maimuna Mohammed, 30, testified that the early warning radio announcement was useful, “quite a number of animals were saved, and the few that were lost were not as many as in previous years”, she said.

Amina Adamu, mother of eight, said whenever floods take place, many livestock and crops are lost, “but this year, information was broadcasted on the radio and we received timely flood alerts on our phones, so we planted earlier and by the time the floods came, we had already harvested, even more than what we expected. Also, we were losing about 1 000 animals almost every time it flooded, and this year we lost about a 100, but mostly owned by people who did not take the warning seriously”, she said.

Protecting the livelihoods of affected communities

In addition to the dissemination of early warning information, the project trained participants on post-harvest storage options and provided Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage bags. It also distributed seeds and fertilizer to boost crop production, while livestock owners received mineral licks, groundnut hay and cowpea husk to feed their animals in case fields were flooded or while waiting for harvests.

Amina Musa, mother of nine, lives in Ribadu community and said that the feed was particularly helpful, “we learned that we can feed cows and goats with groundnut hay and husk; before, we would consider it waste and burned it. It is good animal feed and our animals love it. My goats are doing very well”, she noted.

Overall, by scaling up the dissemination of early warning messaging and risk awareness along with the timely provision of agricultural and livestock production support, FAO was able to mitigate the impact of flooding on the livelihoods and food security of vulnerable communities.

Related Link

https://www.fao.org/3/cb7145en/cb7145en.pdf 

Contact

David Tsokar

FAO Nigeria Communications Specilaist

[email protected]

+234 806 616 2876