Thieves have invaded several rice paddies in Taraba State, stealing hundreds of bags of rice.
Daily Trust gathered that the thieves in their numbers stormed the farms located at Shimo irrigation fields in Lau Local Government Area of the state at midnight and chased guards manning the farms away.
One of the owners of the farms, Abubakar Adamu, said the guard he employed to watch his farm told him the thieves were well armed.
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He said some of the thieves came on foot while others came on motorcycles.
According to him, the invaders arrived on the farms at about 12.30am and left with bags of rice around 5.30am.
Abubakar stated that he had hoped to harvest more than 25 bags of rice, but ended up harvesting only eight bags.
“My guard told me that the thieves were from surrounding villages while others were among those that worked as labourers on our farms,” he said.
Another farmer, Mallam Ibrahim Said, told Daily Trust it was an organized operation.
“The thieves were envious of the success recorded by dry season farmers in the area because bumper harvest was recorded in the area.
“We hired the farms from the villagers and even engaged some of them as labourers only for them to come in the night and harvest our rice,” he said.
Ibrahim stated that he lost over 30 bags of paddy which at the current market is valued at about N1.3 million.
“We couldn’t catch anybody but it is clear that the perpetrators were within the neighbourhood and it was a wrong signal, especially because many of those that farm in the area were from outside Taraba State,” he added.
Daily Trust reports that theft of farm produce had been happening in many farming communities in the state over the years, but the Shimo irrigation fields incident was alarming.
The Police Commissioner in the state, David lloyanomon, could not be reached for comment on the incident. He has yet to reply to a text message sent to him by our correspondent.
