By Fatima Muraina

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Farmers who have rushed to plant during this year’s early rainfall have been urged to embark on irrigation to save their planted crops going by a break in rainfall.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ondo state Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Sunday Akintomide gave the advice in an interview with The Hope yesterday.
Akintomide said the experience last year has indicated that farmers should no longer depend on rain, but to put in place irrigation system as an alternative means to save all planted crops.
He noted that the early rainfall experienced in March was to guide farmers to prepare their lands for clearing and tilting in readiness for the planting season.
According to him, any rainfall in March, no matter how constant it is, was not good for any meaningful farming except subsistence farming, saying that large scale farmers should wait for steady rainfall which commences in April when the moisture content of the soil would be soft.
He noted that the state has emphasized on irrigation advising farmers to dig wells, using streams or waterlogged areas as alternatives to rain as rainfall is no longer dependable.
He urged farmers to imbibe the spirit of irrigation and to take farming as a business which must be supported by irrigation for sustainability.
“Rain-fed agriculture will never support agriculture .With irrigation, you can plant as many times as you want throughout the year,” he emphasized.
“March is not usually good for planting. Rainy season starts from April, or from second week of April till July ending when you can start to plant your crops, vegetables and others”, he further explained.