Chairman All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Enugu chapter, Mr. Romanus Eze, has called on farmers not to rush into planting because of the perceived early rains this year.
Eze told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Thursday that it would be unexpected of experienced farmers to be deceived by the current light showers.
According to him, first rains of every year will not even wet the soil for planting crops, but will only reduce the atmospheric heat and dust.
“There are no assurances in planting crops with the first rains. I will not call it rain, but a drought in form of rain.
“The rain is not for farming. So, farmers should not start farming with it because it is only showers,” he said.
Eze also said that early rains would not result in bountiful harvest, adding that planting with it in the past had been wasted efforts.
“In the past, we had witnessed such deceptive early rains and at the end of the day, crops did not do well.
“Early rains should not be relied on to penetrate the soil for planting,” he said.
The AFAN chairman enjoined farmers to rather prepare their farmlands for planting and other farming activites for March when much rain was expected.
