Anambra Community Celebrates New Yam Festival Without Flooding Since 2012
FOR the first time since 2012, the people of Omor, an agrarian community in Anambra, are preparing to celebrate their New Yam Festival free from the devastation of seasonal flooding.
“This year, we will celebrate our New Yam Festival without the threat of flood for the first time in 13 years,” said Igwe Chris Oranu, the traditional ruler of Omor, during a news conference on Wednesday.
The New Yam Festival, which marks the commencement of the harvest season, is scheduled to take place on 23 August.
This year’s celebration promises to be a moment of pure joy and relief for the community’s farmers, the Igwe said.
The traditional ruler said the festival in previous years had been uneventful by forced or premature harvesting and on top of flood water.
He thanked God for the 2025 farming season which he described as peaceful and bountiful.
According to him, yam is the king of crops in Igboland and in Omor, and highly cultural because it marks the beginning of the harvest season.
“This year’s celebration is going to be different and special because for the first time in a very long time, we have always had premature harvesting because of flooding.
“Even though the water is coming, it has not reached the emergency stage,” he said.
The Igwe said it was expected that sons and daughters alongside well-wishers of Omor community would return home and celebrate what would be the biggest festival in recent history.
He said Omor had the potential to address a good chunk of Anambra food supply need but that farmers faced challenges including bad road for easy transportation of produce and lack of incentive.
Chief Cletus Nwalieji, a member of the cabinet chiefs, who said the harvest in the 2025 farming season was rich, gave a run-down of the programme of activities.
Nwalieji said it would include ‘Igu Aro’, which is the marking of Igbo traditional calendar and the Masquerade Ministration when they would be informed of the ancestors’ approval of the new yam festival.
(NAN)
