Over 10-Hectares of palm oil farm gutted by wild fire In Plateau State

Wild fire has gutted the 10-hectared Daje Palm Oil Farm in
Sabon-Gida, Langtang South Local Government, Plateau State, burning up
more than 4,000 palm trees. Also burnt by the weekend fire were 500
cashew trees, 200 improved varieties of mango trees, among other plants.

According to reports, the 10-year-old farm owned by Dr. Nandul Durfa,
former Chief Medical Director of Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, Abuja
lost most of the plants totally to the inferno.

Also destroyed were new palm oil seedlings being packaged for fresh
planting to expand the farm  Durfa, who described the fire disaster as
“devastating”, said that he had lost hundreds of millions to the
inferno.

“Palm trees are resilient; if you water the burnt trees, they
could come back to life, but this year’s proceeds are gone. There are
also new seedlings that we have been treating for the past five years
which have been consumed. Each seedling was purchased at N350 and we
bought more than 4,000. We spend a minimum of N40,000 every month to
treat and maintain the new seedlings. It is very devastating, really. It
is difficult to quantity the financial loss and the psychological
trauma,” he said.

Durfa, who purchased the palm trees from Nigeria Institute for Palm
Oil Research, Benin, blamed the fire on rat hunters and the carelessness
of the security men guarding the farm.

“The fire strayed into the farm from the nearby bush, but the
security men and managers were not around to put it out. The fire was
vicious and raged on for hours, aided by the dry leaves and the wind; by
the time it was noticed, it had destroyed every part of the farm,” he said.

“My personal efforts have been greatly damaged. With the renewed
attention to the agriculture sector, government and related agencies
should support me to revive the farm because of its massive potential.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture should also assist in mowing the
plantation to ensure that no grass grow beyond three inches,” he added.

He also urged the Plateau government to assist his efforts to expand
the farm in view of its potential to improve the economy of the state.
 “Government should show more interest in helping people ready to
invest in the agricultural sector. It will not be fair for government to
ignore such efforts only to send its men to collect dues when the
efforts become successful,” he said.