Farmers in tears as rice farms razed down

FORTY (40) rice farmers in the Northern Region were thrown into a state of anguish over the weekend as fire razed down their rice farms, totaling over 350 acres.

Each year, farmers lose their farms to bush fires

A spark of fire from the engine of a rickety combine harvester that was being used at a rice farm lighted the rice plants and due to the intensity of the winds, it degenerated into an uncontrollable blaze and spread to other farms.

Attempts to stop the fire proved futile as it continued to raze down farm after farm over a two-day period, until it brought was under control in another community, by which time it had already caused unimaginable damage.

The farms were situated in three communities in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region. They are Malgi-Naayili, Nakpanzoo and Nobogu, which are located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

One of the affected farmers, Mr Lucman Yakubu told a group of journalists that the blaze begun on Wednesday whilst they were in the process of harvesting.

“We suspect the engine was over heated and so it set the rice plants alight,” he stated.

He said they made strenuous efforts to stop the fire, but were unsuccessful and that efforts to alert the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were also in vain because the telephone network was inaccessible.

Mr Yakubu said they were shocked later to find that the blaze went beyond their farms and that between Thursday and Friday, it had razed down rice farms in two other adjourning communities.

Following the incident, the farmers have become distraught as each of them claimed to have invested so much resource into the farms, only for these farms to vanish in one day.

They lamented the consequences of the fire on the welfare of their families as rice farming was their main source of livelihood.

Many of them also claimed that they financed their farming business through credit facilities and so, as they pondered over how to feed their families, they were also contemplating how to repay their loans.

One of them, who appeared very troubled, said since the fire occurred he had become so dejected and confused that at a point he was even contemplating committing suicide.

The farmers called on the government and non-governmental organisations to intervene and help assuage their plight.

“If we get some food donations, it can help us continue to feed our families,” one of the faremers, Mr Hamza Abdul-Hamid suggested.

He said it was crucial also that they got some support in the coming farming season to enable them continue with the farming business.

Incidentally, each year farms are razed down as a result of bush fires, but unlike this particular incident, these fires were usually blamed on hunters, herdsmen and other farmers.

A rice farmer, Mr Moses Olad said the annual fires on rice farms would not happen if government made available modern rice harvesters that could be used when the farms are still wet.

“We always wait for the farms to dry so that we can hire some old combine harvesters from private people to use for the harvesting,” he indicated, adding that many rice farmers were mostly unlucky as by the time they got these harvesters, fires might have already razed their farms.

When contacted, the Northern Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr William Boakye-Acheampong said he had not yet been briefed on the incident because he was indisposed.

(This story was also published in the Daily Graphic, Jan 28, page 32-49)