Zaria – Residents of Zaria and its environs in Kaduna State on Sunday morning recorded the first rainfall in 2016, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
NAN also reports that the rainfall, which started at about 4:15 a.m., lasted for more than an hour and stopped at about 5:17 a.m.
Some farmers in the area, who spoke to NAN on telephone, said that they were happy with the experience.
Malam Musa Dogara, a Zaria-based farmer, expressed gratitude to God for the rainfall, which he described as “a blessing from our creator’’.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Dogara appealed to the government to ensure that fertiliser and other farm inputs were provided for farmers in order to boost agricultural activities.
A peasant farmer, Mutawakkilu Rafinyashi, said that with rainfall beginning early in the year, farmers would be encouraged not only to start preparation for a new farming season, but to also look forward to producing more food for the country.
Rafinyashi, therefore, advised farmers to heed the forecast of meteorologists, who predicted that 2016 would not record an extended rainy season, hence the need to begin farming in earnest.
NAN reports that many of the Zaria residents also expressed gratitude to God for the cooling effect of the rain on the environment. (NAN)