The conflicts between herdsmen and farmers in many parts of the Middle Belt and the Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria have started posing serious threats to food security in the country.
It is indeed saddening that for upwards of five years the Boko Haram insurgency has gripped parts of North East Nigeria, driving many people away from their homes and taking many school children, particularly young girls as hostages to the detriment of Nigeria.
As a result, North East which is a good arable land and good for pasturing cattle have become ghost land as people could not return to commercial farming or pasturing for fear of being killed or abducted by the insurgents. Hundreds of thousands of such displaced people who were in Internally Displaced People’s camps were recently advised to go back home following a push back of Boko Haram insurgents. Unfortunately, they hardly can embark on any meaningful farming for fear of their towns and villages falling into the hands of the insurgents again.
So many farms have been abandoned as a result of fear of either being killed or raped, as a significant percentage of the farmers are women
Already, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of a possible increase in inflationary trend in the country. It attributed it to declining agricultural growth in the country. It is unsettling that in spite of government’s efforts to significantly boost agriculture, unfortunately, growth in the sector which was at a height of 4.5 percent in 2016, has gradually declined to the lowest level of 3 percent in the first quarter of 2018, an indication that the country’s economic recovery remains challenging and very urgent and drastic actions must be taken to significantly increase agricultural production and improve other sectors of the economy.
The declining growth in agricultural production is attributable to the security challenges in the Middle Belt zone which suffered incessant herdsmen attacks on farmers and the Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country in the last few years. The two areas are mainly agrarian and part of the food basket of the country. Thus, insecurity there had resulted in significant decrease in food production in the country.
Experts, including IMF have opined that the conflicts will also have economic implications on the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP. This is because following the clashes, farms were destroyed, crops lost and the incentive to plant new crops have continued to dwindle with each attack, while Nigerians have remained stupefied as the government does not seem to be frontally addressing the economic implications of the widespread conflicts.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association Nigeria (FACAN), has projected that the country will experience food shortage soon because people who ought to farm and produce food are running away from the farms for fear of being attacked.
There are also fears that food supply in relation to demand may widen further if the insecurity in many of the Middle Belt states continue, thus leading to slower growth in the agricultural sector, shooting up prices and resulting in food insecurity across the country.
Other factors expected to lead to high cost of food from early 2019 include increase in farmers’ death, outbreak of pests and diseases, shortage and uneven distribution of rain fall, artificial migration, low turnout of investors in the sector due to activities of Fulani herdsmen and epileptic and unfruitful government policies. Some major crops that are expected to be in short supply to consumers are cassava, sesame seeds, soybeans, yam, maize, tomatoes, pepper and onions, among others.
It is horrifying and unfortunate that hundreds of people have been killed, many maimed and communities have been destroyed, while thousands of farmers and pastoralists have lost their lives and property in an extended act of killings and destruction similar to a war of attrition. The deadly attacks have scared farmers away from their farms. So many farms have been abandoned as a result of fear of either being killed or raped as a significant percentage of the farmers are women.
Going forward, Nigerians deserve to live in peace and harmony. Various recommendations and solutions have been made to the Federal Government on the issue by many stakeholders and state governments so as to enable all Nigerians, particularly those in the Middle Belt live in peace and harmony. Development cannot take place in an atmosphere of conflict. It is only when there is peace that there can be development.
The primary duty of government is to ensure security of lives and property. As such, the Federal Government must now review all the recommendations, suggestions and solutions proffered by various stakeholders and international communities and take firm and definite actions to resolve the
conflict.
