Fire has destroyed Daje Palm Oil Farm located at Sabon-Gida, Langtang South Local Government Area, Plateau State.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who visited the 10 hectares farm, reports that more than 4,000 palm trees as well as 500 cashew and 200 mango trees were destroyed.
Also burnt were 4,000 fresh palm oil seedlings ready for planting this month.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who visited the 10-year-old farm owned by Dr. Nandul Durfa, found that most of the plants had been totally destroyed by the inferno.
Durfa, who spoke on the incident, described the fire disaster as “devastating”.
“I have lost hundreds of millions of naira to the inferno.
“Palm trees are resilient; if you water the burnt trees consistently, 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 an average of N40,000 every month to treat and maintain the new seedlings. It is very devastating. It is difficult to quantity the financial loss and the psychological trauma,” he said.
Durfa, who said that the palm trees were purchased at the Nigeria Institute for Palm Oil Research, Benin, attributed the fire to rat hunters.
“Rat hunters set the bush on fire and it strayed to the farm. Unfortunately, the security guards were not there 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.
Durfa appealed to the government to support him to acquire new palm oil seedlings.
“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 said.
Durfa 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.
