Farming has become an endangered enterprise – no thanks to rising insecurity triggered by armed herdsmen and kidnappers. The activities of armed militia, in Benue, Edo, Delta, Ondo and the Epe axis of Lagos states, have discouraged many farmers. In the bid to protect their lives and investments, large-scale farmers are engaging private guards to stay in business, reports DANIEL ESSIET.
FARMING has become one of the enterprises WITH HIGH RISKSin Nigeria. Farmers are at the mercy of kidnappers, thieves, itinerant herdsmen and criminals, who harass them.
According to the President, Federation of Agricultural Commodities of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Victor Iyama, farmers have important role to play in Federal Government’s quest to attain food security.
In many instances, the farmers have sour tales to tell in the aftermath of raids on their farmlands by those who steal their produce and livestock, equipment and property.
Armed herdsmen often invade farms and kidnap people for ransom.
Chief Olu Falae, a one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) was a victim. He was kidnapped by herdsmen, tortured and forced to part with millions of naira before he was let go.
Those who kidnapped Falae were apprehended, prosecuted and sentenced to prison.
Just last month, Falae had another encounter. Eyewitnesses said over 300 cows had been let loose on the farm by the herdsmen to graze. During the deadly exchange, some cows were reportedly killed, while the herdsmen allegedly fled in different directions.
Falae confirmed the invasion of his farm by the herdsmen and the gun duel between the 15 riot policemen who were deployed into the farm and the invaders.
The former SGF had sought security cover from the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Hilda Harrison, following the invasion.An Enugu rice farmer Simon Chukwu also relived his experiences in the hands of some herdsmen. Chukwu said he was harvesting rice in his farm when some herdsmen invaded the farm with their cattle to eat up the grains on December 22, last year.
He recounted how his resistance made the herdsmen to hit him on the head with machete, giving him cuts on both sides of the head and the left hand.
Chukwu said on his hospital bed said: “However, the trouble began when I shouted on the herdsmen to take the cows away. Three of the herdsmen came from different directions and surrounded me, questioning why I should ask them to take away their cows.
“They were smoking and one of them, who was later identified said, ‘if we kill you now, we will drive away all your people in the community’.
“At this juncture, I tried to run but one of them hit me with one of the long sticks they were carrying and I fell down. Then, a slim and light-skinned one, and another who was black and of average height, gathered around me and inflicted on the two sides of my ears machete cuts.
“When I tried to defend myself with my bare hands, they gave me a deep cut that fractured on my left hand and blood started gushing from the wound very profusely.
“When they saw that I was almost lifeless, they left me and escaped with their cows. When I shouted for help, a man appeared and rescued me. Through God’s mercy, two commercial motorcyclists were on hand to rush me to the hospital.
“At this point, the officer in-charge of the Negba Police Post came to the scene and took up the matter. His intervention prevented the matter from degenerating into a conflict between my people and the herdsmen at Aninri.
“But the next day, the herdsmen went back to my farm and set it on fire. They also, set the adjoining cassava farm which I borrowed N400, 000 to cultivate while I was recuperating in the hospital. I borrowed over N1 million to cultivate rice this year. I borrowed some of the money through the FADAMA programme.
“They also burnt over 150 bows of harvested rice. Going by the current price, the rice is worth about N750,000. I incurred a total loss of over N2 million. The government has been asking us to go to the farm but each year after labouring, the herdsmen would appear during harvests with their cattle from nowhere to destroy our farms. How can we survive as a country when some people are seen to be above the law?”
The hitherto peaceful Igbodu farming community in Epe, Lagos State, is in turmoil, due to the kidnapping and thefts on their farms. The development has a negative impact on the rural community.
Chairman of the local chapter of All farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Lagos State and Vanses Enterprises International Limited Managing Director Otunba Femi Oke is a household in Epe, a Lagos suburb. He grew up in the coastal community.
Oke, who is hospitable and quiet, spends the greater part his days on the farm. He alleged that many law-abiding indigenes have been attacked by criminals masquerading as herdsmen at Igbodu, near Epe.
There were cases of armed and masked men jumping out of the vehicles conveying them into farms, forcing farmers to run to saver havens. According to Oke, many farmers have been kidnapped and huge ransom paid.
Self defence
The rising wave of insecurity on the farms made the farmers to resort to resort to self-help, hiring local vigilance groups to provide security for them on the farm.
But, despite the private arrangement, kidnappers still attack farms with security guards on duty. As at the last count, over 50 of Oke’s colleagues have fallen victims to the kidnappers, who only release them after collecting ransom.
He cited the case of his farm and that of Tanda Farm (both at Igbodu area of Epe), where gunmen in military fatigues, invaded a poultry farm and kidnapped seven people.
He said the level of insecurity could jeopardise the government’s ambition to be self-sufficient in food production.
According to the AFAN boss, relief only came for farmers in the axis when the government deployed soldiers to patrol the areas.
He described as unsustainable a situation whereby farmers spend fortune on private security to protect themselves and their farmlands.
Oke said that Igbodu must be provided with special security because of its attraction to medium and large-scale farming ventures and potential for local and foreign investors.
But the AFAN chair said farming communities in Igbodu have been working together to protect farmers, saying that recent kidnappings woke them up to the need to collaborate on security.
The porous nature of the terrain, he said, remained a major problem.
He said agriculture that contributes so much to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and one of the few healthy sectors of the economy must be according due attention.
Kogi State
The Kogi State Government has responded by deploying Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squads who specialise in aerial surveillance, kidnappers are still on the rampage. The gory tales of kidnapping have become a recurring decimal in the Northcentral state. Farmers have been the worst hit by sophisticated criminal groups operating in the state.
An agricultural firm operating in the state, CrestAgro Products Nigeria Limited, is facing security challenges. The organisation that has invested N20 billion in cassava farming and processing in the state is worried over its investment.
According to its Chief Operations Officer, Mr. Leonard Ebute, the company spends fortune on community policing to protect its 13,000-hectare cassava plantation on Obajana Road and the Food Grade Cassava Starch processing factory in Achabo.
Ebute said that farmers spend more than N100 million on security, lamenting the increasing wave of crime and the inability of the government to tackle crime.
Edo
The situation is not different in Edo State where herdsmen have laid siege to some parts of the state. There were reported cases of women being raped in their farms in Esan part of the state. One of them was reportedly killed by the
The killing prompted the House of Representatives to direct the Inspector-General of Police to go after the herdsmen, arrest and prosecute them.
The state government has no law yet against open grazing but it has promised to build fence walls around public schools and set up a security committee to develop security network to provide adequate security in rural communities and effectively tackle herdsmen attacks on farmers in the state.
Economic impact
The impact of kidnapping has been high on the farmers, who have to go the extra mile to protect their files,
Some farmers and their families say they have been left with no other choice but to change their farming practices or quit the industry altogether.
The financial impact of crime on Igbodu farms, according to him was significant. For instance, some firms which invested close to N1 billion in agro ventures had to close shops because of the rising wave of kidnapping.
Oke lamented revealed that most of their members are yet to recoup their investments after several attacks and raids by herdsmen, even as Ebute said that large-scale commercial farms like theirs, spend at least N3 million every month to remain in business.
Push for compensation heightens
Those who insured their farms have demanded for compensation from their insurer – the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance (NAIC). But NAIC said that premium does not cover malicious damage.
State of the industry
Farmers across the six geo-political zones groan under attacks by itinerant herdsmen and kidnappers.
The Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, Mr. Robo Adhuze, said the new wave of rural crimes has a debilitating toll farming activities.
Iyama, who warned of the consequences of crimes on farming community, alerted of a decline in the number of commercial farmers.
Modus operandi
According to the stakeholders, the attackers strike mainly between 6am and 6am. The farmers are fed up with the increasing number of attacks and the government’s inability to protect them. Some commercial farmers have set up rural and farm watch groups and others adopt more high-tech security measures to outsmart criminal gangs.
Iyama said that farm settlements have becoming soft targets for thieves because of the ‘low risk’ of being caught.
He suggested border patrols and synergy between the farmers and security agencies to encourage farming.
Farmers opts self-protection
Many farmers are calling for preventative measures to protect their belongings.
Oke specifically stressed that farmers, like other citizens, deserve to feel safe. The farmers are prepared to fortify themselves against kidnappers and rural criminals. In some rural areas, farmers sleep with loaded shotguns by their beds.
Ebute, whose farm has been a target by kidnappers, said some farmers keep armed vigilance groups on 24-hour patrol.
According to him, there are genuine demands for weapons for self-defense, stressing the need for government/farmers collaboration.
He said: “Guns must be properly secured, stowed, and used in accordance with the Criminal Code”. He foreclosed accidental discharge.
“Farmers should evaluate their security measures, make improvements where necessary, remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to local police and community watch schemes.”
Stakeholders’ speak
The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, said the prevailing activities of the Fulani herdsmen had over the years led to the destruction of their farms.
He said: “The peaceful coexistence between previously peace-loving Fulani herdsmen, who herded their cattle with long canes and our local farmers has been replaced by an era of AK-47 totting and rampaging herdsmen who kill, maim, rape our people and destroy our farms.
“Not one of them is ever arrested for illegal possession of firearms. Even those arrested in Nimbo for mercilessly killing our people remain unprosecuted by the Northern dominated law enforcement agents.”
The Secretary to the Abia State Government (SSG), Dr. Eme Okoro, lamented the menace of the herdsmen, who frequently attack people on their farms. He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call them to order.
According to Okoro, the herdsmen have become very audacious in their attacks. “There is no Bende community that the Fulani herdsmen have not invaded”, he said.
Source: The Nation
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