Our fertile farmlands have become killing fields – Benue farmers

Benue farmers on Thursday said that the state’s fertile farmlands had become killing fields for invaders.

The farmers who bared their minds in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi said the dastardly act had brought hunger as well as starvation.

Yande Kumbur, a farmer from Kwande Local Government Area (LGA), said that farming in the state had become a dangerous endeavour owing to the repeated attacks.

Kumbur told NAN that the invaders had turned the fertile farmlands into battlegrounds, leaving thousands of farmers displaced, injured, and dead.

Terna Iorver, another farmer from Guma LGA, said that before the incessant and unprovoked attacks, life was peaceful, stressing that they were into the cultivation of yams, maize, and guinea corn.

“We had food in abundance. The land was good to us. We would wake early and return from the farm at sunset, tired but satisfied,” Iorver said.

Mnena Utoo, a farmer in Logo LGA, expressed sadness that the attacks started on a minimal scale and were getting out of hand.

“When we complained, they threatened us. Then one night in 2018, they came with guns. They burned houses, killed our men, and we ran into the bush. Since then, we have never had peace.

“Everything has changed. We lost over seven hectares of rice to cattle last year. People go to the farm with fear in communities that are experiencing relative peace.

“Many of us now stay in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. We used to feed people, but now we depend on food aid,” Utoo said.

Meanwhile, John Tyom, another farmer from Kwande, said that due to the unprovoked attacks on their communities, their youth no longer go to farm.

Tyom said that there was massive migration of youth from the community to the city.

He added that farming was becoming a job for the elderly, and if the situation continues, agriculture in Benue would cease with time.