Hunger looms in Niger communities as bandits levy farmers

Farming communities in Niger State are bracing for hunger and hard times as bandits have vowed not to allow them harvest their crops except they pay certain levies to them.

The affected communities are spread across Rafi, Munya and Shiroro local government areas.

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The bandits are reported to have insisted on the levies either in cash or some percentage of harvested crops, Daily Trust Saturday findings have revealed.

Following the development, crops worth millions of naira, especially beans, guinea corn and millet, which are ripe for harvest, are being wasted on farms.

Farmers in the communities who now live as refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kagara, Tegina, Kuta, Gwada, Minna and other towns, said they now beg to survive.

Alhaji Abubakar Chindo, District Head of Majanjan, one of the communities heavily hit by banditry in Kagara Emirate of Rafi LGA, said he weeps day and night because of the hardship his subjects had been pushed into.

Alhaji Abubakar, who has lived as an IDP in the past eight months, said his house was attacked twice by “bandits who came to kill me” but that he managed to escape unhurt.

He said, “Here (Minna), I am not comfortable, especially that my subjects are in a serious problem. They are hungry and they have food in abundance on farms and in their homes. Where is my title? Where is our farm produce? We cannot harvest; it is something that has been disturbing me.

“Our crops are wasting on our farms. I have been crying day and night. I have been engaging people to help us pray to Allah to intervene. My people are suffering. Some of them live in rented houses in Kagara and other towns and cities. To even pay rent has become a problem. They are not used to staying in towns and cities. They are finding it difficult to cope. I beg those who have a hand in these things to pity people and let them return home and harvest their crops.

“For me, someone volunteered and gave me free accommodation, and I am very grateful for this gesture, but most of my people who ran from their villages cannot afford to pay rent.” 

Alhaji Chindo revealed that no fewer than 50 villages were sacked in his district, noting that, “If you go to those villages, you won’t find anybody. They have all fled. We tried our best to protect ourselves but it was beyond our control. We couldn’t stand the type of sophisticated weapons the bandits used. Several vigilantes lost their lives in the line of duty, and we had no choice than to flee our communities; abandoning our farms.”

He, therefore, appealed to the federal and state governments to send security to his district so that his people could return home and harvest their farms.

He further said, “We rely on government and Allah to come to our aid. If we can have security personnel permanently stationed in our community, it would be hard for bandits to enter Tegina and its neighbouring communities. They pass through Tegina and Gunna to our district.”

A farmer IDP, Haruna Abdullahi, from Adogon-Mallam, Mashegu LGA, told Daily Trust that his son was killed by bandits in November, while working on his farm, saying the situation scared farmers away from their farms even as farm produce were ready for harvest.

In Shiroro, Daily Trust Saturday gathered that farmers have been forced to give out certain percentages of what they harvest to the bandits.

Sani Abubakar Yusuf Kokki, the Co-convener of Concerned Shiroro Youths (CSY), said from time to time the criminals extort money from farmers.

He said once it was time for harvest there was usually apprehension because the criminals would not allow farmers to harvest, noting that farmers were only allowed on their farms on terms with the bandits.

He explained that, “In Shiroro, there are places where people are cohabiting with the bandits. Even when the rainy season set in early this year, there was an agreement with the bandits before farmers were allowed to cultivate. So, it is the same thing that is still working. They have to pay certain amounts of money before they are allowed on their farms. So, even when it comes to harvesting time, the same method is applied.”

Kokki described the state government’s call to farmers to resist demand for levies to harvest their crops as laughable, arguing that, “If the state government said our people should not pay levies to bandits to harvest their crops or do into their legitimate businesses, what has the government done?

“That statement was not more than putting the farmers in line, in the sense that the government has not provided security; the government is not providing food. We are predominantly farmers. So, for anyone to tell farmers not to apply the method that would make them access their farmlands, I think that person is trying to exterminate us before our time.”

Also speaking, the spokesperson of the Coalition of Shiroro Association (CSA), Salis Mohammed Sabo, said in a community called Garkogo, which is known for irrigation activities, farmers had been subjected to pay to cultivate and harvest.

Sabo said, “It is not only during the harvesting period; to even go there and farm, you must pay. It is a strategic place where there is water. So, if you don’t have money to pay these bandits you won’t be allowed. So, farming is by the permission of the bandits after you must have paid. It is either you pay cash or you divide the harvested products and give them percentages. It is a reality.”  

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, earlier confirmed during a security briefing that bandits in some LGAs imposed levies on farmers.

Matane said, “We have seen where the bandits in some locations taxed communities to pay to access their farms. They are deliberate because they know that this is harvest season. We have also seen ridiculous and acts of barbarism where if communities refuse to pay the tax the bandits go and set the farms on fire.”

The Commissioner for Local Government, Community Development, Chieftaincy Affairs and Internal Security, Emmanuel Umar, also confirmed the exploitation of farmers, saying they paid heavily to access their farms.

Umar advised the communities to resist any exploitation and imposition of levies by bandits, saying that the state government was working out modalities, including equipping of vigilantes, in the war against banditry.

He explained that, “We have discovered that it is extortion by certain individuals, and security agencies are working on them. Therefore, no farmer should comply with this directive asking them to pay levies. We are calling on farmers that they have put in their best in farming; God has blessed their effort with bountiful yields, we are appealing to them not to allow criminals to change their lifestyles.”

However, the farmers have described such calls as political statements as they lamented lack of security presence in their communities, citing recent attacks at Tungan Ba’are which saw the killing of residents on their farms.