Rapes, murders, kidnappings and abductions \u2013 these are what threaten farmers in Maiduguri in Borno State every time they go to their land.<\/p>\n
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Attacks by extremists have got more frequent and more violent and have made life a living hell for farmers.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are scared of going on to our land. Almost daily attacks by insurgents have made it virtually impossible for us to work,\u201d a farmer, who asked to remain anonymous, said.<\/p>\n
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The United Nations said this week that about $1-billion was needed to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the \u201crestive northeast\u201d of Nigeria. It estimated that 5.1-million people were at \u201crisk of acute hunger\u201d.<\/p>\n
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It said the ongoing conflict between the military and extremist groups was forcing people from their homes and farms. As many as 36,000 people had been killed and about 2-million people had been displaced in the 11-year conflict.<\/p>\n
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\u201cLongstanding insecurity and violence, compounded by climate change and the impact of COVID-19, are increasing the vulnerability of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Babagana Kalli, an internally displaced person from Konduga, said that when he left to go to the farm in the morning he did not know if he would return to his home in the village, which is about 25km southeast of Maiduguri.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMany people are too scared to farm because there have been so many attacks. Every time we go to our lands we know there is a good chance that we will be attacked. It is affecting food production and that means scarcity of essentials for all. It also means people will have to pay more for the food that is available.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Kalli said it was not safe to farm more than 3km from the town. \u201cIf your land is further away, you will probably be attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because the rainy season is drawing nearer, farmers need to prepare their land and plant seeds, he said. \u201cBut we can only do that if the government makes more effort to ensure our security.\u201d<\/p>\n
Massa Zarami said farmers were being murdered and women were raped on farms every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am worried that people like me will starve if we don\u2019t farm. Most of us internally displaced persons have no other source of livelihood. We are poor and hungry. Farming is all we have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to speak out. The government must know that women are raped, kidnapped or abducted and farmers are killed every day. The government needs to provide adequate security. It should also empower us by providing funds, agricultural subsidies and implements to help us produce more food. It will help not only us but will help build the economy,\u201d Zarami said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time has come for all residents within Borno communities to ensure they have enough food for their families and society at large. This is the only way to ensure that hunger is eradicated in our homes and throughout the country,\u201d one farmer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way to boost the production of food is for appropriate authorities to take steps to ensure that farmers are safe on their lands. If that does not happen the people in Borno State and in the whole country will not have food security,\u201d the farmer said.<\/p>\n
In November last year, in one of the worst massacres reported, more than 100 agricultural labourers working on a rice farm close to Maiduguri were killed in an attack by extremists. Witnesses said the farmworkers were tied up and had their throats slit in what Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari described as an \u201cinsane\u201d attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rapes, murders, kidnappings and abductions \u2013 these are what threaten farmers in Maiduguri in Borno State every time they go to their land. Attacks by extremists have got more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":12792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farming-and-livestock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26926,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14545\/revisions\/26926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}