Without a policy to curb herders and farmers clashes, the agriculture sector in Nigeria is being set back years. Here is a story from Premium Times focusing on the pains of local farmers/herders on the conflict
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-special-reports-features/473666-women-in-agriculture-how-herders-set-my-cashew-farm-on-fire-farmer.html
How herders set my cashew farm on fire – Farmer
PT: Insecurity is the talk of the day as every farmer has one way or another had a taste of it. So how has it affected you?
Ms Titilola: I am a direct victim of some of the issues regarding security. Before I started in 2017, the land has been there for over 10 years and these herders do roam the land freely over this period. When we started, I was under the impression that cows don’t eat cashews so let’s leave them to confine roaming but I was surprised when my cashews started growing. I left the farm one day and when I returned, half of the cashew was gone, branches had been broken.
I was warned by other farmers but I didn’t heed their warning saying I’ll warn the herders to roam carefully and not tamper with my cashews. But still they destroyed over half my cashew and I was really angry and sad. I had to chase them from the farm and that’s when the war started. In 2019 during the dry season, they burned down my farm and I was not close to the farm and nobody knew what happened. In 2020, I was in Ibadan and someone called me from the farm that my farm was on fire.
The herders set my farm ablaze and stood there with the cows to watch with the expectation that no one should come around that time. When they saw that people were around the farm they ran with their cows. When the fire stopped, I already lost about 5 acres of cashew. I went to the police and they kept asking me questions that I should not know. I just had to start calling other people that I know that I want to take the matter to court and that’s when the police started investigating them and arrested those involved who initially denied the accusation but after sometime, agreed that it was their children that did it. I asked to be compensated but they started calling their associations and I realised that these guys know the law, they just want to be wicked. The police tried to compromise the case but I kept calling people I know and that kept them in check.
The herders had to start begging but I insisted on getting my compensation as what I lost was worth over 15 million naira. So they kept begging and calling people to beg on their behalf. I agreed and asked them to write an undertaking that they’ll never enter my farm again, which they did. They did calm down even though they still entered each other’s farm but they were scared doing it. This year, there are no fire incidents and that’s a good thing but there is still the issue of herders on other people’s farms.
We are careful to prevent other issues that might erupt due to their misconduct and trespass. I actually thought I could leave my farm 10 years without fencing but with the fire issue and their trespasses, I started thinking of fencing which will cost over 20 million to execute.
More on
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-special-reports-features/473666-women-in-agriculture-how-herders-set-my-cashew-farm-on-fire-farmer.html
