• Saturday, November 09, 2024
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Herdsmen, kidnappers hamstring Nigeria’s diversification efforts

For decades, Nigeria has remained heavily dependent on crude oil as its primary source of revenue, making the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in global oil prices.

Successive administrations have repeatedly promised to diversify the economy, with agriculture seen as a key sector for achieving sustainable growth and food security.

However, efforts to elevate agriculture have been undermined by a series of security challenges, particularly the activities of herdsmen and kidnappers, which have severely disrupted farming communities across the country.

Read also: Insecurity: Nasarawa intensifies effort to safeguard lives, property

“As long as we are a monolithic economy, the constraints to having the strong exchange rate that we all desire will continue to be hampered,” Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said after a recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting. “We need to diversify our economy. There’s only so much that the central bank can do.”

Role of agriculture in economic diversification

Agriculture has always held potential as an economic driver in Nigeria. The country’s vast arable land, favourable climate, and large population offer immense opportunities for expanding agricultural output.

Before the discovery of oil, agriculture was Nigeria’s economic backbone, contributing significantly to exports and employment. The government has long recognised that a return to this model could help diversify the economy, reduce unemployment, and decrease the over-reliance on oil.

In recent years, agriculture has been identified as a critical sector in various economic policies, such as the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) and the Green Alternative plan, both by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

These policies are aimed at increasing food production, reducing food imports, and expanding Nigeria’s agricultural exports. However, despite these strategies, insecurity continues to threaten the success of such programmes.

Activities of herdsmen and impact on agriculture

A report by SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused market and security intelligence consultancy, says over 1,356 farmers in northern Nigeria have lost their lives to banditry attacks between 2020 and 2024.

One of the most significant threats to agriculture in Nigeria is the violent clashes between herdsmen and farmers. This conflict, rooted in competition for land and resources, has escalated in recent years, leading to widespread violence, displacement, and destruction of farmlands.

Herdsmen, often armed, have invaded farmlands across the country, particularly in the North-Central and Southern regions.

These attacks have forced many farmers to abandon their fields, leaving large tracts of farmland uncultivated.

In states like Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau; Nigeria’s food-belt, parts of the South West, South-South and South East, farmers live in constant fear of being attacked or displaced by herdsmen who graze their cattle on crops, destroying farmland and livelihoods.

The attacks have resulted in numerous deaths, loss of crops, and displacement of entire communities.

For instance, in Benue State—widely regarded as the “food basket of the nation”—herdsmen violence has caused massive displacement, severely affecting food production.

According to reports, thousands of farmers have been displaced from their ancestral homes. This not only disrupts the farming cycle but also leads to a reduction in food supply, which contributes to inflation and food insecurity.

Also, the fear of attacks has prevented farmers from returning to their land, leading to a significant decrease in crop yields.

The loss of these farmlands has directly affected Nigeria’s efforts to boost agricultural production, leaving a gap in the country’s food supply chain.

In regions where agriculture is the primary economic activity, this disruption has led to poverty, loss of income, and a sharp decline in agricultural productivity.

Rising threat of kidnapping

Kidnapping for ransom has also become a widespread menace in Nigeria, further complicating efforts to revitalise agriculture.

In recent years, rural communities, especially in states like Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina, have been plagued by bandits who kidnap farmers, traders, and even entire families.

According to a recent report by SBM Intel titled, ‘An August Nightmare: Assessing the Early Days of the #EndBadGovernanceProtestInNigeria,’ the North has suffered more kidnappings between July 2023 and June 2024, with more than 10 times as many kidnap victims as the South.

Available data revealed that the region has the most insecure states despite being the largest supplier of the country’s agricultural needs.

Farmers, who often work in remote areas, have become easy targets for kidnappers. In some cases, kidnappers demand huge ransoms, while in other cases, those kidnapped are killed if ransom demands are not met.

“In early 2024, SBM found that no less than N139 million was paid as farm levies (including planting and harvesting) to bandits who demanded at least N224 million across the North between 2020 and 2023,” the report stated.

“In the same period leading up to June 2024, at least 1,356 farmers were killed across the country, with most of the killings occurring in the North,” it added.

Read also: Nigeria’s insecurity crisis: A threat to national and global food security

Economic impact: A threat to food security and growth

The twin threats of herdsmen violence and kidnapping have significantly impacted Nigeria’s agricultural output, leading to reduced food production, higher prices, and worsening food insecurity and inflation, which stood at 37.52% in August despite slowing for two consecutive months.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with over 220 million people, has more than 24 million people who are food insecure and plunged into hunger, according to the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises.

The insecurity has affected Nigeria’s capacity to meet its domestic food demand, let alone expand agricultural exports.

Non-oil exports, including agricultural products, in Nigeria declined from 15.30% of total exports in 2020 to 9.65% in H1 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This represents a decrease of 5.65% over the period.

As a result, the country’s economic diversification efforts have suffered, as agriculture—one of the few viable alternatives to oil—has been crippled by the security crisis.

According to data from the NBS report, agric growth slowed to 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2024 on worsening insecurity.

“Insecurity is a national issue that has become a big problem for the industry. It has led many farmers to abandon their farms, leading to rising food inflation,” Muda Yusuf, chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, said in an earlier interview with BusinessDay.

Experts have recommended increasing security in rural areas with more personnel and better policing to protect farmers.

They also suggested promoting dialogue between farmers and herdsmen, with clear land use policies and grazing reserves to reduce conflict.

Using technology like drones to monitor farms and early warning systems can help, while investing in modern farming techniques will reduce the need for nomadic herding. Developing large-scale farming in safer areas will also boost food production, analysts have said.

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