Scores of farmers continue to be killed in some parts of the Northeast by Boko Haram, many of which go unreported. For as long as the killings continue and farmers have to stay away from farms out of fear, it will be impossible to achieve food security, much less, agricultural productivity. Importantly, without food security, the chances of achieving internal security will also be limited.
Last week, 118 soldiers were reported killed in a Boko Haram attack in the Metele area of Borno state. While the nation was still struggling to come to terms with the reality of this loss, four farmers were killed in Jiddari-Polo, in attacks which some reports say the “victims were hacked to death”.
The killing of these farmers is not the first, and certainly not an entirely new thing. And while the death of farmers may not get to the public domain as often as others, they remain equally important because, when fear makes it impossible for them to farm, food production will also nosedive.
During a visit to Borno and Yobe states in April, the city centres appeared calm, but the farther one moved towards villages (even when described as ‘safe zones’), the more the feeling of unease and fear. It is mostly in these outlying villages where farmers who venture into their farms are brutally killed. It is hard to say how many of the 30,851 deaths involving Boko Haram from May, 2011 till date as captured by the Nigeria Security Tracker, include these poor, struggling farmers. However, their figures are likely to be higher than any other category of people, since they are the easiest targets.
Abdulkadir Jidda, chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Borno State chapter, said during an interview in Maiduguri, that, “since 2011 till date, there has been no serious farming activity anywhere (in Borno). Even in areas we say are fairly secure, they are not all that secure in the real sense of it. This is because the villages are not that secure, it is not easy to go there and all our farmers in the bush are already down. At a time, residents from 17 out of 27 local governments in the state were relocated to Maiduguri (as insurgents had overrun their homes.”
Farmers couldn’t go more than 2km from Maiduguri to do any farming, because they could be shot at sight. Invariably, as Jidda explained, it made it difficult to engage in “any serious agriculture since that time, except in Borno south where there are some activities but even then many people are scared.
“From here up to the North, East, to Baga, to the borders with Niger, Chad, and Cameroun, all these are no-go areas for anybody, let alone farmers who have to spend the whole day on the farm,” he said.
Nigeria was identified along with 30 other African countries, which remain in need of external food assistance, despite the country’s enormous agricultural potentials and continuous rhetoric on giving agriculture more attention.
The FAO’s Crop Prospects and Food Situation report in September, illustrated how conflicts and extreme climate change threaten access to food in 39 countries, comprising 31 countries in Africa, seven in Asia, and Haiti in the Caribbean, which remain in need of external food assistance.
For Nigeria in particular, it was noted that; persisting conflict results in population displacements, market disruptions and limited access to food aid in northern areas. According to the “Cadre Harmonisé” analysis, about 5.3 million people were assessed to be in need of assistance between June and August. Market functionality and livelihood activities remain disturbed by the ongoing civil insecurity, limiting food access to vulnerable households. The areas inaccessible to humanitarian interventions are facing the worse food security conditions.
As BusinessDay reported, the return to productivity in farming which represented the bulk of economic activities in most North-eastern states, remains shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty as displaced farmers are not adequately empowered to return to their lands in resuming production, while fear and despair also hangs over many residents.
“Even recently, they killed about 15 of our farmers. They came and reported to me and I asked; what can I do about it? It happened in this Jere area where they went to clear their farms and gather some firewood. All of them were slaughtered on their farms, and there is nothing anybody can do about it,” Jidda said during the visit to Maiduguri.
These farmers Jidda spoke about, are a minute fraction of those who get killed, more frequently than reported publicly. As many farmers told BusinessDay, there is a need to enable them work in safer areas, even if they are closer to the metropolis. Areas presumed safe enough for them to return, do not appear to be so safe after all.
