More than 250,000 hectares of land in Zamfara may go un-cultivated in this year’s farming season as farmers abandon their farms following the growing menace of cattle rustlers and robbers.
Secretary of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in the state, Alhaji Sa’idu Tanko Kura, sounded the warning in an interview with Daily Trust in Gusau, the state capital.
He said about 600,000 farmers were captured for Growth Enhancement Scheme(GES) and about 250,000 for dry season farming, but more than 200,000 farmers had abandoned their farms and fled their communities due to the incessant deadly attacks by suspected cattle rustlers.
Zamfara State has been hit hard by the activities of armed bandits and cattle rustlers who had carried out series of deadly raids on farming and herding villages in the state, thus, forcing the dwellers of those communities to abandon their farms and flee for their lives.
Alhaji Kura further explained that small holder farmers who constitute the majority of the farming population in the state heavily depend on animal traction to till their lands, but this farming method had depleted by more than 80% owing to the unending cattle thefts in the farming and herding communities of the state.
“Most of the oxen used to make ridges on the farms had been stolen and sometimes the grassroots farmers are robbed of their animals at gunpoint while working on their farms. The farmers are no longer interested in rearing such animals and this has adversely affected their inputs with a resultant poor harvest,” he lamented.
He warned that a sharp deficit in food production is imminent and it will take years to recover from this problem unless something urgent is done to tame the menace of the armed banditry.
“The government should focus on small holder farmers and device means to ease their hardship. The policy makers should deal with the farmers directly without the unnecessary intervention of any agency or association. The introduction of GES is a very good example of where farmers are dealt with directly and this has immensely helped them, as fertilizer was being timely provided and redeemed to the beneficiaries.”
The Sarkin Noma of Zamfara, Alhaji Hassan Kwazo, said that GES must continue and robust agricultural mechanization and marketing board system re-introduced for better pricing. He said about 500 tractors are needed to till the vast arable lands in the state, adding that Zamfara has about 20 tractors only.

 Credit: Daily trust