Maize, guinea corn, rice, wheat, groundnut, sugar cane, yam, cassava, soya beans, okra, beans, tomato, pepper among other crops are some of the crops and vegetables produced in the area for local consumption and commercial purposes but the security challenges seem to have posed a big threat to farming activities in the area.
Speaking to Daily Trust in his farm in Kaura local government, Ishaku Bulus said insecurity has posed a big challenge to local farmers in the area, adding, “Just go to the market and take a survey, local farm produce are so cheap. Since this insecurity began, many people don’t even want to come to the villages to buy our farm produce.
“They always complain about the multiple check points on the roads. Some of them complain of harassment. The few ones that come to buy will always price very low. We have to buy fertiliser because we don’t have access to that of the government and its expensive in the open market where we buy, from” he said.
Zamani Luka, a farmer in Zango, Zangon Kataf local government said local farmers in the area now go to farm in groups because of fear of being attacked, “We have had incidences where farmers will go to farm but will not return home. So, our youths have formed farming groups. If they farm for Mr. “A” today, they farm for Mr “B” tomorrow. But this method is reducing the output of farming. If individuals go to farms separately, they work more,” Luka said.
For Yohana A Tanko in Chikun local government, his problem is inadequate fertiliser. “Government should provide fertiliser to the local farmers because we are suffering. We normally grow soya beans, maize and guinea corn here. The soya beans is for commercial purposes while we feed our families with the maize and guinea corn. But because of the insecurity, the price of the soya beans did not appreciate since farmers do not want to come here again. But the maize and guinea corn that the local farmers are also looking for to feed their families have increased in price,” Tanko said.
Nathan Istifanus in Kachia, Kachia local government said the farmers are not faced with serious security threats but said they are badly in need of fertiliser, adding, “We used to keep waste in the dry season when its rainy season we take it to the farms as manure since we can’t access the government fertiliser. If you go to the market, fertiliser is expensive. Do you know that some people in the villages don’t have food to eat in the last two months? This is wet season, where will they get the money to buy fertiliser when they are looking for money to buy food?
Also commenting, a renown farmer, Mr. Patrick Kambai, who is also the Wakilin Marwa of Sabon Gari Damishi said, “If you want to wait for government’s fertilizer to farm, hunger will kill you because the government is working but doesn’t care about the common man. They fail to understand that without the masses, they can’t work. So, we are facing a big problem due to fertiliser shortage in Chikun. You will see over 70 trucks fully loaded with fertiliser but the local farmer will not get it.
“If they help us with fertiliser, we will now know that there is a government on ground. How can we keep standing in the sun to vote and sometimes spend a whole day hungry? After you elect them, no fertiliser to justify what the local people do for them. When you hear children hailing their father, check well, they have food in abundance. I can’t go again and stand under the sun, when you can’t get fertiliser at subsidised rate in the rainy season. Did they want us to suffer for ever?,” he asked.
Women, who are said to be fully engage in farming activities in the area are said to be prone to rape by strange persons in the farms as a result of insecurity. Rakiya Samaila of Lekan said, “Before this crises, we normally go to our farms as early as 5am but nowadays, it’s no more like that. We had cases where women were being raped in the farms by strangers. So, the insecurity has really caused a lot of problems. Most women don’t go to farms alone nowadays. They move in groups,” she said.
Ibrahim Iliyasu, who works in one of the big farms in Tashan Iche in Kasuwan Magani, said he has not experienced security threat in the farm where he works, saying, “We grow maize, rice, egusi here. Our head farmer is not around but I observed that every crop we farm here has been decreasing in price. Our farm produce do not appreciate in price any more. Before, a bag of soya beans is sold for about N14,000 but this year, it has not reached that price. It’s been sold at N6,000 or at most, N7,000. For maize, we usually sell at N7,000 but now its more than that. We are calling on the government to help us with fertiliser. Like some of us that use tractors, sometimes we need over 200 bags but the fertiliser is very expensive.”
When contacted for comment, the chairman of Kaura local government, Mr. Kumai Bodu declined comment on the matter, saying he was in a meeting. His Zangon Kataf counterpart, Christopher Haruna, said he does not own a fertiliser factory, adding, “Do I own a fertiliser factory? Find out from the state government whether they have given others because it’s not Zangon Kataf alone.”
But the chairman of Kachia local government, Peter Agite, said fertiliser has been purchased in large quantity by the government, adding that 20 trucks-load have been delivered by the contractor at the council’s secretariat. “Complaints by the local farmers is normal but the procedures of distributing the fertilisers has to be followed. We will start distributing the fertilisers if the flag-off is done by the state government. The farmers should be patient,” he added.
Despite calls and text messages sent to the mobile phone of the chairman of Chikun local government, Aliyu Usman Waziri, he neither answered the calls nor replied the text messages.
