The killing of another 40 farmers and fishermen at Dumba, near Baga in Kukawa Local Government Area, by suspected ISWAP terrorists has been deacribed as unfortunate and a big challenge to the country’s food security target.
Nigerian farmers under the auspices of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), the umbrella body of all local farmers, have projected that their killings will have a devastating effect on the country’s quest to attain food security and food sufficiency in the short and long-term periods.
National Chairman of AFAN, Arc Kabir Ibrahim, in an interview with New Telegraph, while reacting to the incident, lamented that it was indeed a bad day for the country’s agricultural sector, as this again is coming on the heels of the 2020 bad experience where about 43 farmers were killed by Boko Haram insurgents on rice fields at Zabarmari, Jere Local Government Area of Borno State.
explained that the news of this horrendous act perpetuated by ISWAP was expected to further induce the country’s fragile food system progression at a time the current administration of President Bola Tinubu is trying his best for the country’s agric sector to live up to its bidding.
According to him, the farmers and fishermen killings portend grave danger for the country’s fragile food system, saying insurgency ravaging the nation’s agric architecture space is endangering the country’s food basket of the economy.
The AFAN national chairman stated that the country’s agric sector would certainly be further challenged by this development amid the rising insecurity in the country, saying that food system of Nigeria had been adversely affected by lots of macro-economic challenges.
He added that the Monday’s slaying of innocent farmers in Borno State had caused more fears among the farmers. Consequently, Ibrahim pointed out that the country’s attainment of food sufficiency would be adversely affected and also going to affect planting in the dry season.
Ibrahim added that, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), between 2022 and 2024, about half a million farmers were displaced, leading to a loss of over N2 trillion.
“Apart from the above urgent issues, there are other issues that have fairly been around for a while undermining agricultural productivity and prosperity in the sector.
They include the following poor infrastructure and market access, poor road networks hindering timely delivery of farm produce to markets.
“Nigeria agricultural sector has vast opportunities but it is limited by sundry issues of which the latest and most urgent are rising insecurity in farm lands across the country and climate change,” he said.
Speaking on fears around the environment, Ibrahim said: “As a result of their attacks, people are already living in palpable fear and could not go about normal economic and religious activities comfortably and confidently.
“In addition, this also is taking a toll on economic activities as traders now become circumspect in moving from one part of the country to another for their legitimate businesses.
“Agricultural production is affected as farmers won’t be able to plant, harvest and transport agricultural produce freely. This also, will take a toll on foreign investment, instilling fear in potential investors in the sector.”
