Rice farmers to record low harvest due to pest attack
Ebonyi rice farmers
may record low production due to the re-emergence of pest known as
‘rice gall-midge’, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The largest rice
producing Izzi and Ikwo Local government councils are worst hit by the
pest attack.Emmanuel Echiegu, the state commissioner for Agriculture and
Natural Resources, told NAN on Thursday in Abakaliki, that the
re-emergence of the pest came to the ministry as a surprise.
‘‘We thought it had
been completely eradicated. The effect of the pest in Izzi and Ikwo from
what I saw when I visited the areas is devastating and would definitely
result in poor harvest this year’’.
“Unfortunately,we
did not distribute the tolerant varieties to farmers on time to ward off
the pests from their rice farms as we did not anticipate the
re-emergence of the pest,” Mr. Echiegu said.
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