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Flood Submerges Multi-million Naira Sugarcane, Rice Irrigation Plantation and Equipment Belonhing to Sunti Farms, a subsidiary of Nigerian Flourmills
Olabode Adaramola
Sunti Farm, a Multi-Million Naira subsidiary of Nigeria Flour Mills Plc, situated at Sunti Community along Jaagi road, in Mokwa Local Government of Niger State, has been submerged by flood.
The land mass of the farms, which is estimated at about 900 Hectares in size and consisting of Rice and Sugarcane plantations was said to have been submerged by flood after a heavy rainfall on Monday 26th September, 2016.
The Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency( NSEMA) Mallam Mohammed Ibrahim Inga, confirmed the incident on Tuesday in Minna in a chat with the news men.
He stated further that asides from the Rice and Sugarcane irrigation plantations, that are presently under water, that the company’s Heavy Duty Equipment such as Bull Dozers, Pay Loaders, Excavators were also submerged while the farms’ drainage channels, Irrigation Pumping Stations and internal road networks among others have also collapsed.
The NSEMA Boss explained that following the special interest of the State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello on the Multi-million Naira investment of Sunti Farms in the State, that has made the governor to send him(Inga) and the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu to the farms for on the spot assessments of the damages so far caused by the raging flood to the farms.
“In fact, His Excellency, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello considers the company’s investments in Niger state as a very serious investment and the Governor is happy with the investments in the state and he is looking into how the company will be of tremendous assistant to the people of the state in terms of employment opportunities and in the area generating very huge revenue to the state.
That was the reason why the Governor sent me and the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Alhaji Aliyu to the farms with a view to assessing the extent of the damage caused by the natural disaster’, said Inga.
He further disclosed that the damage caused by the flood to the Rice and Sugarcane irrigation farms was enormous, adding that the whole sugarcane farm and the Rice farm were seriously submerged along sides some Heavy Duty Equipment and other facilities on the Farm Estate.
Accordingly, he said, “when we got there, we could not reach where the Equipment were kept because the water level was still very high and they were seen in a very far distance from where we were able to reach’.
He however stated that the submerge of of the farms and its equipment and other social amenities on the farms has very serious implication financially and otherwise.
‘The implication of the Sugarcane farm being flooded is firstly that attainment of Sunti Farms Management of cultivating 3,000 Hectares in Niger State by June next year is already being threatened.
And if the Sugarcane farm remains under water for more than two weeks, the sugarcane will start growing Sucros, meaning that the Sugar contents of the Sugarcane could be washed away and the Sugarcane plantation will become useless’, he maintained.
