The Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Mashi, says flooding in some parts of the country can impact negatively on crop production and the health of Nigerians.
Mashi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that it was likely that a lot of crops would be submerged in many states.
He, however, said the agency predicted occurrence of flooding during the early part of the raining season in 2017.
He said, “The implications of this are simple and very clear; you know that crops receive fixed amount of water in form of rain to be able to grow over a certain period.
“If that amount is exceeded, it can affect the productivity of the crop and if that amount is less than what the crop requires, it means the crop performance will be impeded.
“It means the implication on crop production is quite obvious; a number of crops would be submerged, some will be forced to accommodate water that they cannot accommodate.
“It will definitely affect their performance and affect food production in different parts of the country,’’ he said.
Mashi explained that flooding could also affect health because it could encourage disease-carrying vectors or organisms to breed faster as a result of excess water on the land surface.
He also said that there had been reported cases of water borne diseases in some parts of the country, in line with NiMet’s warning during its 2017 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP).
“When you look at health, the problem we normally encounter, especially when you have flooding, is that a lot of things that need not to be carried by water will now be forced to be carried.
“For instance, sewage and things on the dump site will be washed and then the water sources, which a lot of people rely on, will be contaminated.
“And because water will remain over land surface for long, you have very fertile ground for vectors that are supposed to be spreading water borne diseases to breed.
“Definitely, when you have a situation like this, the health sector will be affected as much as the agriculture sector will be affected.
“There are a lot of cases of outbreak of water borne diseases that have been reported in different parts of the country as a result of this.’’
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