Irish Potato farmers in some parts of Plateau state have raised alarm over alleged attacks on their farms by suspected witches and wizards, resulting in low harvest. According to Dailytrust, the farmers claimed that the issue is seriously affecting them as the case has not been experienced before.
The report quoted one of the farmers as saying;
“You know that Irish potato farming is the biggest crop farming here and there is a lot of gain in it. So, many people are venturing into it and there is so much mix up lately. Usually, applying effective agricultural practice is all you need for your Irish potato to germinate well and give you bountiful yields. Those agricultural practices include planting quality Irish seeds in good time, application of fertilizers and other manure like chicken waste, weeding among others.
But today, some people now indulge in other spiritual things in order to grow their crops, and we have been experiencing some unexplainable things lately. When you plant your Irish potatoes, it will immediately begin to grow well and bring out fresh leaves. But after a while, the leaves will begin to wither and that affect the potatoes in the ground. When you asked you will begin to hear that some spiritual forces have attacked the potatoes.
Another farmer was quoted as lamenting that “a big farmland on which many people cultivate and equally applied all the best agricultural practices known to them will eventually give each farmer different result at harvest time. A particular woman we usually farmed together with was always getting quality harvest while others’ harvests were very poor. And there was nothing she was doing differently. Sometimes, cars come to the farm to pack her produce while we found it difficult to get few basins”
Meanwhile, the President of Agricultural Policy Research Network (APRNet), Dr. Tony Onoja has debunked the claims. He explained that the issue of low harvest may be attributed to viral diseases occasioned by climate variability. He listed other factors to include airborne disease and other organisms carried by floods.
According to him, “Such beliefs that witches/wizards or other spiritual forces can affect germination of crops comes where and when there is no knowledge of the scientific reason behind poor germination of crops. And so, the people will always supply their own interpretation, even if it is traditional”
