In the last two weeks, several farmers have been killed while harvesting their farm produce.
At least 13 farmers have been attacked and killed by suspected members of the Boko Haram in communities around Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in the last two weeks, witnesses and officials have said.
PREMIUM TIMES got information from credible sources about how farmers’ lives continue to be at great risk every day due to the heightened hostile activities of the insurgents.
The Borno government had earlier this year inaugurated the Agro Rangers Programme which enlisted a joint security team of police and vigilante volunteers to protect farmers in locations around Maiduguri.
But it seems the rangers may have been overwhelmed of late due to the increased farming activities associated with the harvest period.
In the last two weeks, several farmers have been killed while harvesting.
“Six farmers were killed on Monday, October 19th, at Moromti, a farming area in between Auno and Maiduguri along the Kano-Maiduguri highway,” said Bunu Mustapha, an operative of the Borno-owned Rapid Response Squad.
“Five of the farmers were beheaded, and one of them, a 45 years old man was shot from the back while he was trying to escape.”
The sources said four of the six slain farmers were brothers who were accompanied by two other paid labourers whom they engaged to help them harvest their crops.
“You know this is the season of harvest for farmers, and most of them have gathered their produce, and are ready to be evacuated from the field, but Boko Haram insurgents are not letting them be.
Neither the Nigeria police nor the military had spoken about the killings.
Barely a week after the incident, another set of farmers were killed by suspected insurgents on Saturday at the same location of Moromti general area.
Sources familiar with the latest attack said nine farmers ran into Boko Haram while on their way to their farms.
“Six were later found with their heads separated from their bodies, while three of them are yet to be accounted for,” said a local villager in Auno who identified himself as Muhammad Bashir.
“It was not a good sight to behold. We had to alert the operatives of Civilian-JTF who moved in to evacuate the bodies.”
Minister of Agriculture, Baba Shehuri, had on Wednesday confirmed the latest attack at a Stakeholders Engagement meeting in Maiduguri.
“Just this afternoon as I was on the way to attend the meeting I got the information about how some eight or there about farmers were killed while harvesting the crops in their farms,” the minister, who is from Borno state, said.
“This is very disturbing and it also indicates how serious the situation our people are facing in this state,” he lamented
