Nigerian farmers warn of starvation as insecurity bites harder
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has warned the country against the prevailing insecurity, saying it may be difficult for Nigerians to feed themselves if nothing is done to protect farmers across the country.
The warning came after 20 farmers were recently kidnapped in Abuja.
A total of 22 farmers were on their farm working at a village called Rafin-Daji in Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) around 2pm on Thursday, when armed bandits kidnapped them, after shooting sporadically, to instill fear. One of the farmers escaped by the whiskers.
Though the FCT Command of the Nigerian Police Force has moved into the forest to rescue the kidnapped farmers and assured that the criminals will be apprehended and punished according to law.
The National President of AFAN, Architect Kabir Ibrahim, said the plight of farmers, especially in the rural areas has assumed a dangerous dimension, and that food production would be on the lowest ebb in 2022 which would degenerate to starvation triggering more crimes if nothing urgent and proactive is done to arrest the situation both at the local, state and federal levels.
Ibrahim lamented that a lot still lies ahead to tackle food security as farmers have used their blood to sacrifice for Nigerians not to fall into the valley of serious starvation, he said farmers feed over 200 million mouths on daily basis.
“Even with the frightening insecurity, farmers put their lives on the line to go to their farms to cultivate and harvest produce for Nigerians to eat.
“These unsung heroes and heroines deserve to be protected, pampered, and honoured publicly.
“It is very discouraging to the farmers to work assiduously to feed the teeming population of our country when their comrades are kidnapped all over the place.
“Unless proactive action is taken to protect the farmers as they work to produce optimally to bring about food sufficiency, it will be very difficult for Nigerians to feed themselves this year.
“Abuja has not been one of the regions prone to these attacks but it is now evident that it is also not spared.” He lamented.
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