Floods destroyed crops worth millions of naira on Friday following the collapse of Kankia dam in Kankia local government area ofKatsina State.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that rice and maize farms have been washed away following the collapse of the dam.

Some of the victims said that the situation could affect irrigation farming, which could further lead to food security problem, unemployment and rural-urban drift.

Abba Almu, a farmer, told NAN that the incident, which was the first of its kind in the history of the town, had destroyed crops worth millions of Naira.

Almu urged the state and federal governments to come to their aid as many of them would not have food for their families.

He also called for the immediate re-erection of the collapsed dam’s embankment.

Another victim, Abdulkadir Mai’unguwa, said the disaster would negatively affect the over 500 irrigation farmers in the area who relied on the dam for irrigation activities.

Mai’unguwa also said that herdsmen had to move to nearbylocalgovernments following the collapse of the dam.

The chairman, caretaker committee of the council, AbubakarLawal, disclosed that the dam was purportedly rehabilitated recently by the federal government under the constituency project of the member representing the area, Ahmed Babba, noting that “yet, it collapsed.”

He appealed to the lawmaker to as a matter of urgency call the contractor back to site to reconstruct the embankment and widen the water spillway to avert future occurrence