Remember how farmers and locals in several towns in the north of the nation said they had been paying levies and taxes to alleged bandits to avoid being assaulted by the terrorists.
Farmers in Zamfara State are scheduled to meet with local bandit leaders to discuss how to safeguard them and get permission to work on their farms.
Remember how farmers and locals in several towns in the north of the nation said they had been paying levies and taxes to alleged bandits to avoid being assaulted by the terrorists.
According to the farmers, who spoke on behalf of the Zamfara State chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, their meeting with the bandits was scheduled to take place on Saturday (today), PUNCH reports.
Abdulhafiz Alkali, the public relations representative for AFAN, had bemoaned on Thursday that the Federal Government appeared to have abandoned them and any thought of providing security for farmers.
He said, “What I know about protection with the farmers is just the negotiation between the bandits and the farmers. I am living in Zamfara State now. I know that there will be a meeting by this coming Saturday between the farmers and the bandits.
“We lost a lot of things in Zamfara State. We sent letters to the Federal Government to secure us five years ago after complaining that the bandits were disturbing us.
“We needed the intervention of the Federal Government but it never came. What we lost in the past seven to six years is between N30bn to N50bn on commodities only.
"Many people from different countries and states used to come to the Dansadua axis to buy commodities to the tune of over N50b in a year, but now, in a year, we get less than N2bn to N3bn.
“In Zamfara State, the commodities business was worth over N200bn to N300bn, but these bandits interrupted the business. We wrote letters, we complained, but up till now, no response from the Federal Government.”
Speaking further in response to the House of Representatives' recent inquiry over the N18.9 billion COVID-19 agriculture project funded by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Alkali said that AFAN had not been included in the government's most recent agriculture project.
Alkali said that the group was making swift preparations to meet with the Ministry of Agriculture to clarify the situation.
“We need between 3,000 and 5,000 (parcels of) arable land, most especially in the North and South-South. For now, there has been no communication between us and the ministry. No member of the All Farmers Association knows about these projects.”
Recall that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Account was recently summoned for an audit inquiry and warrant regarding the ministry.
The Nigerian Young Farmers Network revealed that they were not included in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture's COVID-19 lockdown programmes, where N18.9 billion was spent.