There is an imminent food crisis in the North East Region following the heavy downpour that destroyed many farmlands and the livelihood of the people last Wednesday, August 9, 2023.
The rain which reportedly started Wednesday morning and lasted for about six to eight hours cutoff the Walewale-Nalerigu highway, destroyed several bridges and gutters and left many other road networks unmotorable.
THE CUSTODIAN Northern Regional Correspondent, Mohammed Gadafi, during a visit to the region last Friday observed that several hundreds of acres of farmlands largely crop farms such as maize and groundnuts were submerged and others completely washed away by the flood waters.
Thousands of the inhabitants are displaced and left homeless whilst others are seeking shelter in neighboring communities and other parts of the region.
The North East Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), John Kweku Alhassan, in an interview said they envisage an imminent food shortage in the coming months.
“Yes of course, we can envisage that because the lands are being saturated and flooded; the crops cannot do well and so we’re most likely to experience food insecurity in the region” he stated.
He emphasized that the situation at hand is very serious because people’s foodstuffs have been carried away and their rooms collapsed, adding the source of water for the people in some of the affected communities have been compromised and their toilet facilities also damaged.
“So, we’re just working around those communities to see how best we can possibly return them back to normalcy” he said.
The NADMO Regional Director added the impact of the rain also collapsed the age-long Gbani dam and consequently washed away the bridge making vehicular movement very difficult for the people.
“And so, we made a passionate appeal to the government and the government has responded swiftly and as I speak with you now, there is work ongoing to create a temporary bridge for the people and other road users.”
Mr. Alhassan said the government cannot afford to lose any life and therefore advised the residents to always take precautionary measures anytime it rains and listen to weather warnings.
