ANAM FOOD CROPS

The people of Anam in Anambra west and east local government areas of Anambra state are mostly farmers owing to the arable condition of the area. About 70% of the food crops cultivated in Anambra State are from Anam people. They can be seen as migrant farmers and fishermen outside their state looking for areas with good moisture and rich soil content-Bayelsa, Delta, Kogi, Rivers etc doing what they know best. Their major food crops are Yam-(Adaka,Ekpe)(Dioscorea Rotundata, Dioscorea cayensis)

These yams are usually stored in barns after harvesting to prevent it from rottenness as a result of moisture and floods which rampage the farmlands during the rainy season. The yams are transported to Onitsha market for onward distribution to all parts of Nigeria and west Africa.Below is the heaps of yams usually seen at Ose-Okwodu Market Onitsha.

The yams are usually transported from the villages and farm settlements through a wooden engine-powered boats.

Other varieties of food crops from Anam includes cassava,Potatoes, Maize, Melon, Fluted pumpkin and a whole lot of others. Anam people are also natural fishermen and employ different means to harvest fish. The rainy season allows the River Niger to overflow its banks and extends to its tributaries, thereby causing a yearly flood(Iji) which though affects the area by destroying farm crops and leaving people temporarily homeless, it fertilizes the land and provides fishes for the various lakes and ponds where fishes are being caught.

                                                   Cassava Plantation in Anam

                                                   Fluted pumpkin fruit(Ogbe Ugu)

                                                      Fluted pumpkin plant

                                                           Maize Farm

                                                                    Okro(Okwulu)

                                    Paddy rice plantation

                                         Potato seeds(Nduku)                                            

                         Throwing the dragnet(ojogolo) on the River Niger

                                   A fisherman holding catfish(Ikele/Alila)

                              Paddling a canoe on a fishing hunt

                            A typical fishpond at Anam(Akpakam Oroma Etiti)

                                           Catfish(Alila)

                              Another variety of catfish(Odono)

                                    Fishing on Anambra (Omambala) River

River Niger at high tide(Migrant farmers and fishermen living in the farming camps can be seen on the canoe trying to get home.