By MERCY OMOIKE

The Lagos State Catfish and Allied Farmers Association (LASCAFAN) has lamented the loss of more than N150 million in the recent flash floods in the state.

The LASCAFAN Vice President and incoming President, Mr Olatoye Fajimi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

NAN reports that there have been various lamentations from fish farmers in Ikorodu and across the state following flash floods caused by downpour.

Fajimi attributed the loss to the recent downpour witnessed in the state.

“It has been a bad time for fish farmers in Ikorodu following the rains that fell on Monday.

“When fish farmers got to their farms at Ikorodu and other parts of Lagos State and discovered that most of their fish, if not all in some cases had been washed away by the torrential rain that fell overnight, it was a dismal experience.

“The rain fell heavily throughout the night such that by the time farmers got to their various fish ponds around the lowlands of the Ikorodu, most of the farms had been overrun by flood water.

“The fish had already been washed off into nearby gutters and canals. It has been a tale of woes from LASCAFAN Ikorodu zone,” Fajimi said.

According to him, an evaluation of the loss in the sector since Monday is estimated at N150 million.

“We have been doing an evaluation with fish farmers that are members of the association and others to see the extent of the damage and loss.

“As of today, August 7, the damage has been quite enormous. Over 50 fish farmers have been affected and the loss in monetary terms as at the moment is well over N150 million.

“In fact areas and ponds that were never flooded in past have experienced flood this time.

“The downpour was heavy and consistent, and because it happened through the night did not give the farmers the opportunity to try and salvage their investment in any way.

“This incidence is quite devastating, farmers have been crying, a lot of them are running on loans and they are indebted to a lot of cooperatives and financial institutions right now.

“The cost of buying fish feed, petrol and other inputs have been quite high and farmers have been coping by running to their cooperatives to take loans or running to financial institutions for one fund or the other just to augment their initial capital and everything have gone down the drain,” he said.

While calling on government for intervention and other stakeholders in the sector, he enumerated the areas affected.

“Right now from Elepe in Ikorodu to Mowe kekere, to Mowe Nla to Berger, to Idiroko farm community to Maya, to Lucky fibre and Erikorodo, Igbe to Ibeshe and to Ofin, it has been tales of woes from Monday till now.

“If you come to fish farm clusters around Ikorodu, farmers are still pumping water, trying to see if they can rescue anything from the canals and trenches, but so far it’s bad, we have not been able to rescue any fish.

“The loss is quite enormous, and we are calling on government and non-governmental organisations, the private sector and our political leaders to at this time rise up to wipe away these tears and give some succour to the fish farmers.

“First of all, we need the canals around the Ikorodu dredged consistently, we need to have a programme maybe every three months for farm boogies to go around and ensure all these canals and drainage are cleared up, so flash floods will not catch us unawares any longer.

“In some areas, we need to relocate the farmers for them to continue to run their businesses and sustain their means of livelihoods.

“We need to get them some tarpaulin and collapsible ponds so that they can look for safer areas to continue to run their business.

“To start over again, the farmers need feed. A lot of farmers also lost their feeds, we need interventions to procure feeds for the farmers, we have not had it like this in a long time.” He said. (NAN)