Terrorists killed 1,454 farmers, forced many out of farms in Katsina ― MAAN Chairman

The Chairman of Maize Farmers Association of Nigeria (MAAN), Katsina State Chapter, Lawal Garba has said that its members in the state will not participate in this year’s dry season farming as terrorists have taken over farmlands in about eight Local Government Areas of the State.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Tribune Online, Garba said within the last three years, about 1,454 maize farmers have been killed, while over 40 per cent of maize farmers in eight local governments in the state abandoned their homes due to terrorist attacks.

He said efforts were being made by the state government to address the situation but it has not yielded desired results.

The MAAN Chairman added that the non-participation of Katsina in this year’s dry season of maize farming will greatly affect the supply of maize across the country.

“Katsina state did not participate in the dry season maize farming this year for some reasons which are insecurity and lack of enough water bodies.

“The absence of Katsina State from the dry season maize production will have an effect on maize supply across the country because we engage in this maize production every year.

“We have more than 25,000 maize farmers in Katsina State, we started Anchor Borrowers Programs in 2017, and we register new farmers every year. For this year, the total number of registered maize farmers in Katsina State is about 25,000.

“In this 25,000 maize farmers, about 1454 were killed by terrorists, if we are talking about displacement, if you take a census of the areas affected in Katsina, they are the eight local government areas who have boundaries with Niger Republic, Zamfara State and Niger State”, he said.

He further stated that more than 35 per cent of farmlands in the eight local governments under attack by terrorists were abandoned by the farmers and are inaccessible.

His words: “Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Dan Musa, Kankara, Faskari, Dandume and Sabuwa. More than 40 per cent of maize farmers in these local governments were displaced, they were forced to leave their areas and go to the main city to survive, and they cannot go back to most of the farms they abandoned in the villages because of the insurgency.

“From my personal perception,  more than 35 per cent of the land which was cultivated by the people around the areas have been abandoned because of insurgency”.