Bloodthirsty bandits early this week killed 13 farmers on their farms at the Ijuwa fringes of the Alawa community of the Shiroro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State.
The LGA Chairman, Akilu Isyaku, confirmed the killing of the 13 farmers in an interview with a local radio station in Minna on Wednesday.
Isyaku said the bandits shot nine of the victims to death while four others were killed at a different location the same day.
Niger State Acting Governor Yakubu Garba has described the attack as satanic and callous.
It is said that several other farmers far away from the scene of the attack have deserted their farmland for fear of attack.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram and sundry terrorists frequently attack farm settlements, especially in the north, killing, maiming, kidnapping and looting produce and other properties and forcing farmers to flee their farms.
Many of the farmers end up in Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPCs) while their farms lie fallow and unproductive and the food shortages so caused further shoot up prices.
Data from the selected food prices watch report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the average price of 1kg of local rice rose by 155.93 per cent from N547.76 in April 2023 to N1,399.34 in April 2024.
Rice, a staple food widely consumed in Nigeria, has been rising in price despite its production locally. The commodity now sells for between N70,000 and N85,000 for a 50kg bag, depending on the area of purchase.
In a related development, Nigeria and other countries across the West Africa region are projected to see increased prices of staple foods such as rice, maize, millet, cereals, etc. in the course of this year (2024).
Crops affected also include cassava, soya, sorghum and yam, which are key crops in the conflict-affected regions.
Many of the listed countries, including Nigeria, have come under the yoke of armed insurgency and other forms of terrorism over the years.
As 2022 concluded, Nigeria was home to 3.6 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), of whom 1.9 million were living in protracted displacement in the north-eastern state of Borno.
Many of these are farmers who have been forced to flee their fields with their families, following sad experiences in the hands of terrorists.
Insurgency and terrorism are emerging as significant sources of shocks to agricultural and food systems, as well as land use.
Estimates of the causal effects of exposure to attacks on plot ownership, cultivated land, rented land, land values and cropping patterns are alarming and make clear that meaningful intervention is needed.
As the economic crunch bites harder, it is critical that Nigeria’s agricultural lands be relieved of the siege of insurgency and terrorism, so that our teeming stranded farmers can return to cultivate the much-needed food in increased quantities to effect price reductions and affordability.
Nigeria’s military and political authorities have said over time that the country requires much more than military intervention to deal with the complex forms of insecurity it is faced with.
They say the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) have reviewed their strategies and policies and given prominence to the whole of society approach, also known as the non-kinetic approach to ensure effective attainment of military goals and national development objectives.
The approach involves the participation of the government, security agencies, civil organisations, religious leaders, traditional leaders, the press and the general public, according to them.
The Non-Kinetic military operations involve the use of psychological, diplomatic negotiations and economic sanctions to achieve military objectives, they add.
Our security forces need to deploy into the country’s besieged farmlands and put to work the much-avowed non-kinetic strategies in their engagement with the terrorists and the local populations, to free up the fields for improved cultivation and lower prices of food to the table for the relief of Nigerians in these challenging times.
Furthermore, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) should deploy agro-rangers corps to the states to provide security to enable farmers carryout their activities without fear of attacks, more sophisticated arms and ammunition should be provided for the security forces to eliminate the scourge of the invasion of farmlands by bandits.
