Irish potato farmers in Plateau State have expressed worry over their inability to advance dry season farming following the incessant violent crises that have led to loss of lives and destruction of property in many communities.
Plateau State is known to be the highest producer of Irish potatoes in the country over the years as the land is fertile for growing the crop.
Farmers have been making considerable earnings by cultivating the crop, and this has boosted their economic wellbeing, as well as that of the state and the country in general.
In May last year, killings occurred in Mangu communities and over 125 people lost their lives. Many people were displaced, of which most are farmers, and till date, they are living in an internally displaced persons camp.
Since then, attacks have been occurring intermittently in several communities in the state until the latest one that happened on Christmas eve in over 20 communities of Barkin Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu local government areas. Over 100 people were killed in that attack and hundreds displaced.
Although normalcy has gradually returned to those communities, farming activities are yet to normalise as farmers cannot securely access their farms yet.
The situation is currently disrupting the dry season farming, particularly that of the Irish potatoes, which currently needed to be nurtured through the irrigation system.
Most farmers have either abandoned their farms or fled from their communities to safer places; and therefore, going to the farms is not their immediate consideration yet, but their safety.
Some of the farmers who spoke to our correspondent said this was the peak time they ought to water the potatoes, otherwise they would be destroyed.
They explained that if the current security situation is not quickly addressed so that they can return to their farms, there would be a serious shortage/scarcity of Irish potatoes this year, and the few available ones will be at exorbitant prices.
One of the farmers from Bokkos, Christopher Rafan, said the crisis had been affecting them tremendously because the people are predominantly farmers. They engage in both dry and rainy season farming.
He said one of his neighbours known as Mangai was killed and his house burnt.
He said Irish potato was the main cash crop of the people, but unfortunately, the crisis displaced people from their homes while crops are still on the farms needing attention, which is an additional jeopardy to the people already suffering.
“Most dry season potatoes are still in the farms and yet to be harvested. And due to the current crisis, the people/farmers have been displaced from their ancestral home. Many of us currently have no homes, while others are squatting with relatives in different towns.
“We can’t even go back home, talk more of going to the farms to check our crops and nurture it. There are still minor and silent killings going on.
“The Irish potatoes have stayed for close to two weeks now without being irrigated, and they ought to be irrigated on a daily basis. So, very soon the potatoes will be wasted on the farms.
“In this dry season farming, for instance, I cultivated Irish potatoes, maize and other crops. But for now, I am afraid of going to the farm to do anything. The farms are often not close to the homes, and most people are afraid of going alone without any form of security,” he said.
Rafan said although vigilantes, hunters and security operatives had been trying their best to ensure security, it is always tricky for them to provide security to farmers on their farms because ordinarily, they cannot go and ask the security to assist by following them to the farms except authorised by the authorities.
He said the current security arrangement they are now making for themselves in order to quickly return to the farms was by mobilising themselves to one another’s farms in groups so that while some are working on the farms, others would keep vigilant so that if they noticed anything they would raise the alarm and security operatives would be alerted.
He said he cultivated 25 bags of Irish potatoes towards the end of November and irrigated it every two days, but since the latest attack he had not been able to go to the farm.
Rafan further said from the 25 bags he cultivated, he was expecting nothing less than 80 to 90 bags. He added that he bought each bag of the seedlings (25 bags) at N35, 000, and after harvesting, he would sell each bag between N43,000 and N45,000, depending on the market forces.
He stressed that if nothing is urgently done to remedy the situation, dry season potatoes would all perish on the farms and this year, there would be unimaginable scarcity and serious spike in the price of the available ones.
Another farmer, Moses Saya Loms, a traditional titleholder (Madakin Mandarken of Bokkos), said there was already a likelihood of hardship that would be faced by the people.
He said many people who planted maize last year and harvested used most of their proceeds to cultivate Irish potatoes for dry season farming, but now, they can neither access the maize or the potatoes on the farms due to the killings.
Loms said he planted 20 bags of Irish potatoes in November and expecting between 80 and100 bags, but the crisis disrupted everything. According to him, he bought each seedling bag at N20,000 and is expecting to sell from N35,000 and above upon harvesting.
He called on the government at all levels to come to the aid of farmers by first providing them with adequate security to be able to access their farms and later intervening in potato production so that they can cover up any loss that might have been incurred during the crisis.
Subsidizing seedlings for the farmers, provision of fertiliser and chemicals to tackle potato disease, as well as grants, will go a long way to assist the farmers, he added.
On his part, a farmer from Mangu Local Government Area, Sohotden Mathias Ibrahim, said that since the crisis intensified, Irish potato cultivation in Mangu dropped to as low as 20 per cent.
Ibrahim, who is also the director of culture, Mwaghavul Development Association and director of IDP (Pilot Science) Camp in Mangu, said 96 farming communities in Mangu had been affected by the crisis.
He said that out of the 96 affected communities, 56 were badly affected, to the extent that they could not cultivate Irish potatoes at all this dry season farming due to the crisis.
He said he only managed to cultivate three bags inside Mangu town, where it is safe and not in the village, and that he is expecting between 10 and15 bags.
According to him, if the issue is not quickly tackled, there is going to be serious hunger this year since Mangu happens to be the ‘food basket’ of Plateau State in terms of cash crops.
He also said the situation would affect the state economy and the country in general because the crop would become scarce and very expensive.
For those unable to farm, he called on the government to provide seedlings and fertiliser for them so that they could go back to business properly during the next planting season in April.
For those who managed to cultivate during dry season farming, he said government should provide security for them so that they could return to their farms.
He added that most farming communities were taking shelter at displaced persons camps in Mangu while others left for other places because their houses were destroyed.
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