Effects Of Herdsmen Attack And Flood On Nigerian Agriculture

For the past three years, Benue State has faced disasters that have befallen and affected agriculture in the state in no small measure and being the food basket of the nation, the calamity is being viewed to have adverse effect of food shortage on the state and nation at large. HEMBADOON ORSAR (Makurdi) writes on the effects of flood and herdsmen attack on the state and country’s agriculture.

Report by the chairman, All Farmers Association, Aondona Hembe-Kuhe in 2015 stated that over 5000 farmers farms were destroyed and no compensation was paid to the affected farmers whose crops were washed away by flood, a situation he said, raised the price of food items in the state and Nigeria to over 70 per cent.

According to him, a similar situation occurred in 2016 when the Cameroonians opened the Lagdo dam that washed away 30,000 farm lands and destroyed farmers’ homes worth N2 billion.

He said, the attack by the herdsmen on January first 2018 by the marauding herdsmen really affected the agricultural sector of the state, because over 200,000 farmers were displaced and unquantifiable farm lands were destroyed.

“I say the farm lands were un quantifiable because up till now, we are yet to receive support from the government to go to those affected communities to assess the farms that were destroyed “

“Even though some of the IDPs have managed to return home, it is not easy for them because there is nothing they can fall back on,  most of  their homes and farm lands were destroyed, so there is gross shortage of food in the affected communities.”

According to Hembe-Kuhe, the herdsmen attack has even given room for some young men to even leave their communities for greener pastures to some urban areas thereby leaving only the aged at the villages.

“This herdsmen attack has brought fear on so many farmers in the communities, most of them have even run away from the communities, unlike when it was flood, every farmer was back when the waters started receding to ascertain the level of damage caused, but as you can see most farmers are demoralised because they have lost their loves ones including their homes and means of livelihood and most of them got loans from the bank to farm.”

“On a political point of view, I think we, the farmers, are tired of politicians coming to deceive us, at the end we are the ones at the receiving end, we have our representatives all round, we are not asking them to give us money, all we need is security, for us to go back and farm but to no avail”

He lamented that government at the state and federal levels are not doing enough to help farmers  in the face of climate changes.

The world and Nigeria are being faced by climate change and government policies are not gearing towards that direction to help farmers especially in Benue State, to engage in irrigation farming that would help farmers to cultivate all year round farming”

Comrade Kuhe said with the look of things, the two disasters that have befallen the state would eventually bring high wave of crime rate following the population that is being pushed out from their ancestral homes.

According to him, as the food basket of the nation, and now the hub of blood shed, which is mainly targeted on the farming population, Nigeria should expect abject poverty in the affected communities and hunger at large.

He called on the government at the state and federal levels to assist in rebuilding the affected communities and also help farmers with farming inputs and make their homes safe for them to go back and start new lives.

Some  of the IDPs  in an interview, reiterated their earlier calls on both the state and federal governments to provide enough security for them to go back to their ancestral homes to continue with their farming activities to enable them cater for themselves and not depending on government and other organisations for survival.

A father of 12 children, Iorliam Zahan, stated that his wife and children have been feeding from hand to mouth following the gross shortage of food in the camp.

“I am from Yelwata in Guma Local government area of Benue State, I found myself in the camp because of this Fulani crises because all our houses and crops  were destroyed by this herdsmen.

At first we thought the promise by the state and federal governments to provide enough security and farm inputs for us to go back home and  farm when the farming season commences would yield a positive result but up till date we can’t access our homes.

“How can a married man with many children be staying in this kind of environment for over almost a year, the food they are giving us here is not enough.  How can about 40 families be sharing one bag of rice? For me, I have tried to go home but to no avail because the herdsmen are still occupying our places especially we that are in the hinter lands, but those that their places are close to the main roads have gone back and are managing their lives.

“For me, going home is the best thing even though the time for planting some crops have passed,  now is harvesting time, there is no place like home no matter what we get from here, it is better if we can engage in the cultivation of  crops to pick back pieces of our lives.

“I have tried to go back home but to no avail because these herdsmen are still occupying our homes and the moment they see you, they attack again.  Many people have gone to survey their places without returning and there is no way to go and pick their corpses for burial.

Another IDP who was nine  months  pregnant, Doom Sughnen, from Keana in  Awe local government area of Nasarawa State said, because she and her husband ran and came to the camp with nothing, even though they are being starved, they don’t have any where to go hence, the herdsmen are still carrying out silent killings in the area.

“We are tired of staying in the camp, we need security so that we can go back home. Staying in one room with over 20 people is not easy and unhealthy. We know the government is trying but to feed this kind of crowd is not a small thing, but if we were in our communities, we could farm to eat and even sell to take care of ourselves.”

Even though the coming Operation Whirl Stroke has facilitated the going home of many IDPs, many of them who spoke to our correspondent are afraid of going to the farm to cultivate anything.

Even though the military are seen parading in some of the affected communities, life is not easy for most of them who are seen sleeping in dilapidated buildings.

Some of the locals including Alfred Iorungwa Gbeji, Thaddeus Tsav, Aondona Igbayum, Kwagh Maurice and Tordue Iorer, who expressed joy that they could finally return to their homes after several months of staying in camps, however, said the herdsmen were still staying three kilometres away from their residences, which makes them to avoid farming for the time being.

QUOTE:

 

I have tried to go home but to no avail because the herdsmen are still occupying our places especially we that are in the hinter lands, but those that their places are close to the main roads have gone back and are managing their lives.