A relentless wave of attacks against farmers in Nigeria by armed groups is hindering critical food supplies and threatening to push the country deeper into a devastating hunger crisis this year.
Increased attacks against farmers across parts of the country and incessant killings, particularly in the south-western region has culminated in displacement, market disruptions and loss of livelihoods. Armed groups killed more than 128 farmers and kidnapped 37 others across the South-West region between January and December 2023, according to the Nigerian Security Tracker. On January 15, 2024 farmers were chased out of farms in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State by non-state armed groups to destroy crops on the farmlands.
Consequently, inflation has increased by 28.92% as of the 15th Jan 2024; food prices have skyrocketed in the last six months due to insecurity and a reduced rate of food supply from the local farmers.
Fulani herdsmen have been infesting farmlands, killing anyone that crosses their path. These numerous attacks have put fear in farmers.
“Although it is difficult to quantify what farmers have lost as a result of the precarious security situation in Nigeria, the truth remains that our losses are very huge,” the National President of, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, said.
“We don’t know the exact number of farmers we have in Nigeria and the total produce in any crop. Nobody has any exact data on this. We are working on making the data of farmers available, but our production losses are very huge.
“However, to be on the conservative side, we have lost almost 50 per cent of what we use to produce. And this is because currently most of us cannot produce anything due to the level of insecurity in Nigeria”, he added.
This, of course, is another form of insecurity and losses resulting from to this cannot be quantified because it is so enormous.
The greatest challenge in cassava cultivation is the activities of herdsmen because during the dry season, cassava is the only crop that stays wet and remains green. This makes cassava a target of herdsmen.
