Auchi - Alhaji Abdulahi Mohammed, the Edo North Coordinator of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), has said that more than 350 hectares of cassava farmlands were destroyed by the September floods in Edo.
Mohammed disclosed this in Auchi, Edo, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday
He said that the floods which affected Etsako East and Etsako Central Local Government Areas of the state, caused serious damages to these council areas known for the cultivation of rice, yam and cassava.
He noted that most of the destroyed cassava farmlands were almost at the harvesting stage.
The AFAN coordinator called on state and Federal Governments to urgently map out strategies to ameliorate the sufferings of the affected farmers.
Most of the affected farmers, he said, would face serious pressures because they took loans to prepare their farms.
While lauding the role so far played by governments, individuals and organisations in identifying with the displaced persons since the incident, he noted that more needed to be done for the victims.
"The most important thing I think these people need now is assistance for them to go back to their occupation, which is farming.
"They need assistance in form of finance, farm inputs and implements.
"If government can seriously come to their assistance with the above listed items, the people will have something to hold on to because they have lost so much that they almost want to give up on life.
"Government can make things happen fast because November and December are good months for planting cassava," he said.
- NAN