Ending Attacks on Farmers to Guarantee Food Security

Beyond encouraging importation of foodstuffs to mitigate the impact of hunger and food inflation, the federal government must also urgently demonstrate its ability to end the killing and abduction of farmers by bandits and herdsmen which have discouraged farming across the country, Wale Igbintade writes

The decision by the federal government to allow massive food importation last week angered the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who described it as depressing.

At the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa retreat held in Abuja, Adesina, while speaking on the theme: ‘Food Security and Financial Sustainability in Africa,’ noted that Nigeria cannot rely on food imports to stabilise prices. He argued that such a move could undermine the country’s agricultural policy.

 The prices of foodstuffs and other goods and services skyrocketed in Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidies and also floated the naira in 2023. This pushed food inflation to over 40 per cent, plunging millions of Nigerians into poverty and hunger. 

But as part of efforts to ease the hardship, the federal government on July 8, announced that duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas would be suspended through Nigeria’s land and sea borders for 150 days to stabilise the prices of the items in the market. 

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, the government had also adopted measures to be implemented in 180 days. He admitted that prices had continued to escalate, adding that in some cases, food items were becoming unavailable.

Kyari described the recent measures as a stopgap to take care of the time lag between cultivation and harvest.

However, many believe that encouraging importation contradicts the earlier position of the presidency on food security.

President Tinubu had stated that Nigeria would not import food but produce what it eats.

Expressing concerns over the implications of the importation of food items, Adesina, who had used his position as the then Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, to put in place a blueprint for sustainable food sufficiency in the country, insisted that Nigeria must feed itself with pride. He added that a nation that depends on others to feed itself, is independent only in name. 

The AfDB boss explained that the country should be producing food to keep prices stable and reduce pressure on the foreign exchange front while creating jobs. He argued that the federal government’s plan would only address short-term price hike, adding that it might jeopardise the significant efforts and private investments made in Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

Adesina briefed the primates on the bank’s $25 billion programme to transform agriculture, by providing high-performing agricultural technologies for 40 million farmers and making Africa food self-sufficient by 2030.

He shared the bank’s successes in helping member countries tackle the negative effects of climate change, through financial investments and its flagship Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme.

According to the bank president, TAAT has helped Ethiopia to become a net exporter of wheat within five years, and it has significantly increased Sudan’s wheat production, as well as supported countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to continue producing food in the face of a prolonged drought.

For Nigeria, Adesina said, “Together with the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, we have provided $520 million to support the establishment of Special Agricultural Processing Zones, which will allow private agribusinesses to establish industries that process and add value to agricultural commodities.”

In addition, he said it provided $134 million to Nigeria for emergency food production to help drive down food price inflation, by significantly boosting the local production of wheat, and cassava, under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme.

Adesina urged the Nigerian government to take advantage of the bank’s investments and support for African farmers; show greater determination and commitment to achieving food self-sufficiency, and incentivise private-sector agribusinesses.

The move to import food had also provoked the ire of farmers in particular. For instance, the All-Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) had earlier stated that food importation would erode the gains made in rice, maize and wheat production.

Also, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) had also opposed the move, insisting that the federal government should encourage rice farmers rather than encourage importation.

Speaking in the same vein, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, while receiving the national executive members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by its President, Chris Isiguzo, in Ibadan, said it was a shame that the country couldn’t feed her citizens well despite being blessed with arable land. While stressing that the country is also blessed with good weather, the governor pointed out that Nigeria had no reason to import food.

“It’s a big shame for this country that we cannot feed ourselves. We should go back to those things that will allow us to bring confidence back to our people and to ensure that this country is back on the path of growth and economic progress,” he said.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria has never had it so bad in food insecurity.

Increased attacks on farmers by herdsmen and bandits across parts of the country led to the high cost of foodstuffs in the country due to the inability of farmers to go to their farms.

Not only that farmers are constantly being killed and kidnapped for ransom, herders also allow their large herds of cattle to destroy and feed on cultivated farms.

According to the Nigerian Security Tracker, between January and June 2023, armed groups killed more than 128 farmers and kidnapped 37 others across the country. 

In June 2023, 19 farmers were killed by non-state armed groups in Nigeria’s northern Borno State alone.

The Global Food Crisis Report also indicated that banditry and kidnapping in the northwestern and north-central states of Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Niger have continued to hinder food production since 2022.

Based on the persistent hike in food prices in the country, the United Nations recently predicted that 82 million Nigerians, representing about 64 per cent of the country’s population, may go hungry by 2030.

In 2023, the Food and Agriculture Organisation predicted that no fewer than 2.6 million Nigerians in Borno, Sokoto and Zamfara states, and the FCT might face a food crisis between June and August 2024.

According to a government-led Cadre Harmonisé analysis released in March 2024, approximately 4.8 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states were experiencing severe food insecurity, the highest level in seven years.

Also, as Nigerian workers commemorated the 2024 May Day, Organised Labour had expressed concern about the country’s rising food prices and fuel scarcity, saying that the current situation threatened the survival of workers.

Before President Tinubu assumed power on May 29, 2023, he had pledged to prioritise security and effectively tackle the menace, adding that the economy cannot thrive in an insecure environment. After one year, nothing has been done in this regard.

In addition to demanding an end to the killing of farmers by herdsmen as well as tackling general insecurity, many had also called on the government to urgently fix the country’s deteriorating roads to allow farmers and traders to transport their produce to urban areas where the demand is high.