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Farmers in Zamfara and Sokoto States, have appealed to the Federal Government to deploy more security personnel to the states to protect farmers from bandits’ attacks, “which is” threatening harvest of crops. A cross section of farmers who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau, observed that the bandits were now imposing levies on rural communities, which had been disrupting farmers from harvesting their crops. The Sarkin Noman Mayanchi in Maru Local Government Area, Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim urged government to be alive to its responsibilities through the deployment of more security personnel to proffer solution to the difficulties being faced by farmers in the rural areas. “We have recorded bumper harvest in different parts of the state; however, the period of harvest remained a challenge due to bandits’ activities in many rural communities. Farmers are facing difficulties in harvesting their crops in most of the rural areas of Zamfara. Some famers who cultivated maize and rice are now afraid to go to their farmlands to reap the fruits of their labour,” he said. According to him, this is harvesting season, however, the bandits always come around demanding for money from the rural communities, “else they will prevent them access to their farmlands. “Many farms remained under siege because bandits are demanding payments before allowing farmers to access their farms for harvest. This has led to many large scale farmers to abandon their farms in fear of kidnapping,” he lamented. Ibrahim noted with dismay that some communities were forced to adopt different methods to address the situation, including forfeiting portion of their yields to the bandits, so as to allow them harvest the remaining crops. A farmers’ leader in Shinkafi local government, Alhaji Adamu Bazamfare, attributed the crash in food prices to both government policies and bumper harvest across different parts of northern region. Bazamfare appealed for deployment of more security operatives to support smoother harvest of crops across the state. “Government at all levels need to intervene to allow us harvest our crops and also prepare for dry season farming,” he pleaded. The farmers’ leader, who said that farmers in different parts of the state were happy following this year’s yield, however, explained that insecurity had prevented them from harvesting what they had cultivated. “Many farmers refused to cultivate their farmlands in fear of attack and the few that grew crops are now facing harvest challenges. There is no doubt, farmers have recorded bumper harvest this year, but their major grievance is the demand by the bandits to forfeit parts of the harvesting crops to them or face hostility. These bandits usually send their boys to stop villagers from harvesting until they pay certain amount or forfeit some portion of the crops or both,” he said. According to him, some villages like; Bullaƙe, Gidan daji, gidan Arɗo, and Gobirawa in Shinkafi LGA and other areas had to pay money to bandits before cultivation and the same thing is happening during the harvest period every year. Speaking on importation of food by the federal government, Bazamfare noted that it would certainly have negative consequences on farmers, saying that such policy would discourage many farmers from participating in active farming. He, however, advised the federal government to re-channel the money meant for food importation to subsidise high cost of fertilisers and other farming inputs to rekindle the hope of farmers. “Government should create other means to encourage and attract more farmers back to the long age business,” he said. In Sokoto, the Programme Manager of Dojo State Agricultural Development Project (SADP), Alhaji Abubakar Danmaliki, said famers across the 23 local government areas had recorded bumper harvest across different varieties of crops. Danmaliki said SADP had commenced compilation of post cultivation reports, “so far so good, this year farmers have recorded bumper harvest.” The programme manager also identified flood as another factor that affected their area, adding that some areas were completely submerged during this year’s rainy season. According to him, no fewer than eight local government areas were affected and assured the readiness of government to support the affected farmers. A farmer in Wamakko LGA, Malam Lawalli Yusuf, who said that farmers in the area were able to harvest appreciable quantity of grains, however, lamented that prices of farm produce were not encouraging. Lawalli appealed to the federal government to support farmers by crashing the prices of fertilisers and other farm inputs before the next farming season for the benefit of both farmers and the society at large. NAN reports that a bag of paddy rice sells between N23,000 and N30,000 depending on quality, a bag of maize sells for N32,000, a bag of millet, N32,000, a measure of onion goes for N1,300 and pepper is N900 in Sokoto markets and environs. In Kebbi, farmers identified low commodity prices, insecurity, and inadequate storage facilities as some of the major challenges in the state. A cross-section of farmers, who spoke with NAN, said that although the harvest had been generally good, the fall in prices of farm produce had affected their expected income. Malam Abdullahi Musa, a rice farmer from Argungu LGA, said this year’s harvest was encouraging compared to previous seasons, but the prices were discouraging. “This year’s yield is far greater than last year because we have experienced good pattern of rainfall and government has supported farmers through the provision of free fertilisers and other farm inputs, but the problem now is that prices have dropped beyond expectation. “A bag of paddy rice that sold for N45,000 as at last year, now goes for between N25,000 and N28,000,” he described. He attributed the fall in price to large supply of farm produce in the markets and government’s import policies that allowed cheaper foreign products to compete with local produce. Another farmer, Mrs Maryam Dogo from Zuru, said insecurity remained a major concern, especially for those farming in remote areas of Danko/Wasagu, Sakaba and Ribah Local Government Areas of the state. “Many of our people cannot go to their farms freely because of fear of attack. Even during harvest, we have to go in groups for safety, with escort from security agencies or vigilante members,” she said. Dogo added that most farmers lacked adequate storage facilities, forcing them to sell their produce immediately after harvest at relatively low prices. Similarly, a millet farmer in Yauri, Alhaji Garba Noma, observed that absence of modern silos and warehouses contributed to post-harvest losses. “We need government’s intervention in the area of storage. Many farmers lose up to 30 per cent of their crops due to poor storage facilities,” he lamented. On the impact of current harvest on commodity prices, a traders in Birnin Kebbi confirmed that the bumper harvest had contributed to the general fall in prices of grains, including rice, maize, and sorghum. A market leader, Alhaji Umaru Adamu, said: “The fall in prices is mostly due to the good harvest this year. Government policies also played a role, but the main reason is that supply is now higher than demand.”
