Lamentations in Omor, Anambra’s agrarian community where wasted produce could feed millions of Nigerians.

From Emmanuel Uzor, Awka

Omor community in Anyamelum Local Government, Anambra State, is arguably the food basket of the state.  Blessed with arable land suitable for rice production, its swampy nature presents opportunity to engage in all round and all year mechanised rice farming.

The Federal Government established the Anambra/Imo River Basin Authority there to develop and manage surface and ground water resources within Omor and other areas of coverage.

Part of the package from the river basin authority available for the community is an irrigation programme aimed at ensuring all season rice farming in the area.

Unfortunately, the essence of the basin authority to provide access to safe and adequate water for domestic, industrial, flood control and agricultural purposes and promote the socio-economic development of the country has been hampered by the deplorable road that leads to the community.

The Aguleri-Otuocha-Ezuanaku-Omor-Omasi-Adani Road constructed by the administration of Second Republic President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, in the early1980s links the agrarian communities of Ayamelum LG of Anambra State and Uzo-Uwani LG of Enugu State. These two areas are renowned food belts in Nigeria.

Daily Sun was told that successive administrations in Anambra State failed to tap into the agrarian potential of Omor to advance massive and commercial production of rice and other food items.

They failed to maximise the irrigation project of the Federal Government to encourage all-year-round rice farming and other products. There were visible bottlenecks in the timely completion of the irrigation project, but the most pressing challenge of the farming community remains access road to ease transportation of the farm produce.

The terrible state of the very strategic road to Nigeria attaining food security has for years remained a cause for concern. The House of Representatives in 2019 highlighted the need to rehabilitate the important Aguleri-Otuocha-Ezuanaku-Omor-Omasi-Adani Road.

Traditional Ruler, Omor, Igwe Chris Chidume Oranu, has for the umpteenth decried the continued neglect of the road by both federal and state governments for decades.

Apart from hampering farming and evacuation of farm produce from Omor, the royal father stated that the deplorable state of the road has turned the place to safe haven for all forms of criminal activities. It has also posed severe environmental degradation.

He noted that the quantity of agricultural produce that waste in the course of conveyance to the markets due to the bad road, was enough to feed up to 10 per cent of the nation’s population, especially with the ban on various imported food items: “The creation of the Anambra/Imo River Basin Development Authority to support agricultural initiatives for increased food production for local consumption and export has been defeated due the deplorable state of the road in our area.

“Omor has the largest rice farm in the whole West Africa. The creation of the Anambra/Imo River Basin Authority was welcomed by our people who were already neck deep into rice farming. The joy of the expected complementary efforts from the federal government inspired us more to deepen our interest in rice production.

“Over the years, Omor had produced thousands of tons of rice paddy and this is because of the arable land and massive landmass we have but our major problem has been the dilapidated Aguleri-Anaku-Omasi Omor federal road that links Anambra to Enugu and even to some parts of Kogi State.”

He bemoaned that despite persistent cries of residents and commuters for remedial actions on the road, nothing has been done by successive governments to ameliorate the situation, leaving the people to undergo hardships while commuting to their various destinations.

The monarch called on the Federal Government to as a matter urgency come to the aid of the people of the community by reconstructing the road 40 years after it was first constructed by the then President Shagari.

Igwe Oranu said the essence of the budgetary allocation to the Anambra-Imo River Basin would not achieve its desired goals if there was no road to convey farm produce especially rice from Omor to other parts of the country even in the face of the current national food crisis.

Also, an indigene of Omor, John Mora, lamented that the community has had to live with the deplorable road. He said it was the first ever asphalted road in the area, noting that for that reason, up till now, his people especially the aged ones believe that votes cast in each election were for Shagari:

“This road was constructed by President Shagari and ever since, our people have not forgotten about it. In fact, some of the old men and women in our villages used to come out during election, still believing they were coming to vote for Shagari who built their road for them years ago.”

Mora blamed high cost of rice in Anambra and other neighbouring states to the condition of the Omor Road, which according to him, made it difficult to transport rice from the community to the end users.

Amechi Anierobi, a commuter, also called on the federal government to urgently come to their rescue: “We are suffering here. Please help us tell President Tinubu to send his Minister of Works, David Umahi, to come to our rescue. I know all federal roads within the country are important but this Otuocha-Omor-Adani federal road to me is very important because our source of livelihood depends on the road.

“If this road is fixed and we transport rice out of the place, it will automatically crash the price of rice in the country. But due to the condition of this road, we stay on it for weeks because once another truck breaks down, the road is blocked and we get stuck here for weeks and that is the reason price of food especially rice has been on the rise.

“Check the price of diesel that we burn on this road on daily basis in trying to navigate the bad road while carrying bags of rice paddy from Omor rice clusters. This is a journey that ordinarily should be less than one and half hours, we now do it a day, in some cases, weeks on the same road and still carrying the food.”

In addition, the people also called on the state and federal governments to provide them with fertilisers and other farm implements.

A rice farmer, Mr. Sunday Okoye called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to concentrate his agricultural empowerment programme on the real farmers in the rural areas: “The governor must be made to understand that his agricultural empowerment in the offices at the government house doesn’t get the desired goals. If he wants to empower farmers, we are the real farmers who need the empowerment.

“We need fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides and other farm inputs and implements that will aid our work. We spend a lot to hire these heavy machines that prepare the ground and harvest the rice for us. Government can assist us in that regard.”

Published Date: September 3, 2024