Herdsmen/farmers clashes now taking tolls on scarcity of yam, beans, other agro harvestss
…As prices of beef remain stable
Emerging indications from several market survey across leading metropolitan cities in Nigeria have shown that prices of several farm products especially yam and beans which are key agro products from the Nigerian Middle belt states of Benue, Taraba, parts of Niger, Kebbi, Zamfara, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Nasarawa and Jigawa.
Checks in Lagos foodstuff markets on a year-on-year basis showed that whereas a bag of beans was sold at an average price of N8,000 and N10,000 depending on state of origin and quality of beans last year, the same range of products now sale between N23,000 and N35,000.
The same scenario applies to yam and Potatoes.
Some of the respondent traders explained that scarcity of yam will soon be chronic as the average total number of preserved yam tubers destroyed in the last six months outnumbers what they have been selling since this year.
To them, this means that even yam tubers preserved for planting were among those destroyed by herdsmen.
One of the dealers on Benue yam, who hails from Wukari, said “I cry for this nation on the level of destruction so far meted to commercial yam farmers in Benue”.
“The worst is that key yam species that gave Benue the tag of producers of best sweet yam are affected and may now be extinct if care is not taken.
The large scale yam dealer, who pleaded anonymity, decried the way and manner the federal government had handled the crisis since last year when the first signal was observed.
Analysts say the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria have grown, spread and intensified over the past decade and today pose a threat to national survival.
Besides, so many people have been killed, communities have been destroyed and so thousands of farmers and pastoralists have lost their lives and property in an extended act of killings and destruction. The ungodly act is not only continuously destroying livelihoods but is also affecting national unity.
Traders who spoke to Business Hilights at Mile 12 market, Lagos on Monday, said the deadly attacks have scared farmers away from their farms. So many farms have been abandoned as a result of fear of being killed and raped because most of these farmers are women.
Statistics show that Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Taraba, Bauchi and Kaduna experience 40 per cent decrease in grains production. Over 35 per cent of grains’ local farmers abandoned their farms for herdsmen in the region, death rate increased in Benue, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa and Kaduna with 27 per cent.
No doubt, Benue State remains the hardest hit in recent times. In January, 73 people were killed during the violent attacks on Logo and Guma in Benue State on January 1, 2018, which the Federal Government proposed cattle colony as a way to end incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen. But stakeholders have kicked against the proposal, saying only ranches can resolve the issues.
The 73 victims of the attacks were interred in a mass burial in a village near Makurdi, the state capital. In April, within a space of three days, no fewer than 24 persons were allegedly killed by suspected herdsmen in different communities in Benue State.
Apparently, it is high time the Federal Government reviewed all the recommendations, suggestions and solutions being proffered by stakeholders and international communities to resolve the conflicts.
