NEW: Nigeria has reduced its gas flaring by a third since 2019. But that is a function of reduced oil production levels, not of any regulatory success.

Each time Oweiere Edugo goes to harvest plantains from her farm, she feels dispirited. Recently, her harvests have been subpar and she is struggling to maintain operations on her farm. 

"We cry each time we go to harvest our plantains. We expect big bunches but we get angry seeing small bunches because of [gas] flaring," she said. "We are really suffering and we don’t know who will intervene."

Edugo lives in the oil-rich state of Bayelsa. Her community, Ogboinbiri, is close to two stacks in a flow station operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company since the eighties. From 17 functional oil wells, 50,000 barrels of crude oil and 180 million cubic feet of gas are extracted daily, which is processed at the flow station. Over 1.5 billion cubic feet (45 million cubic meters) of gas was flared in 2022, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

As Agip continues to flare gas in Ogboinbiri without restraint, farmers like Edugo are now considering switching to another profession to survive. Edugo decided to open a drugstore. She hopes her money could send her two children to school.

"You cannot train your children with just farming alone," she said. "We are suffering and Agip is not doing anything."