Members of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Zamfara state lamented that bandits tax them before they could access their own farms.
The RIFAN Secretary in the state, Sanusi Muhammad, disclosed that the activities of bandits would slash production of farm produce by 50% in the forthcoming farming season.
He said, “Most of our farmers cannot go to farms due to fear of bandits’ attacks and kidnapping. Bandits send messages of attack to communities or tax farmers large amounts of money before they allow them to go to farms.
“Bandits are now the ones who decide whether we go to farms or not, in some areas even if farmers plant crops they cannot cultivate due to insecurity. The situation is unfortunate; most of our members are victims of this ugly situation.
“Most of the areas affected by insecurity are areas where we have large numbers of farmers. Some of our farmers producing thousands of bags of grains, not only rice, almost all the crops grow in this state now cannot produce even a quarter of the quantity of food they used to produce.”
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Also lamenting his losses, a large scale farmer, Abdullahi Dalla-Dalla, said, “Farmers are always facing threats from the bandits. Last year, I lost over 150 bags of grains to bandits.
“The unfortunate thing is that, with recent security challenges facing the state, I am not sure whether farming would take place in Zamfara this year.”
The chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN)in Kano State, Alhaji Faruk Rabi’u, also said two local government areas – Doguwa and Tudun Wada – were also experiencing attacks from bandits and kidnappers.
He said, “Most of the large scale farmers who owned farms in the areas are from Kano and other urban areas. Majority of such farmers have either stopped cultivating the farms or sold them due to the locations of the farms.
“Bandits and other hoodlums use the notorious Falgore Forest as their hideout. More so the two local government areas also share boundaries with Plateau State which has a thick forest.”