NIGERIA’S food security quest is in peril as farmers increasingly escape terrorist attacks and deaths in states where the majority of food consumed by Nigerians are grown.
Economy Post contacted farmers in Benue, Niger, Plateau and Taraba states and all of them said the same thing: Terrorists are either preventing them from going to their farms or taking over their sources of livelihood. Some of them said they were no longer interested in farming due to the attacks.
Benue is the food basket of the nation. A richly-blessed state, Benue produces large quantities of yam, oranges, yams, sweet potato, rice, mango, cassava, soya bean, guinea corn, flax, sesame, rice, groundnuts and palm trees. It is the highest producer of yam. However, terrorists who masquerade as herders have sacked several of them, killing some and maiming others.
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A cassava and yam farmer in Kwande Local Government Area in Benue, Mr Timothy Aondohemba, said his farms were destroyed by herders who came in at night earlier this year. “We choose to call them herdsmen, but they are terrorists. They came to my farm, destroyed everything I planted, and even allowed their cattle to feed on my yams, cocoyam and cassava. When they finished, they moved round our village, Shangev-ya, and dared anybody to come out,” he said.
He said with the intractable attacks in Benue State, Nigeria’s food output would be lower during the harvest.
In Taraba, a maize, millet and rice farmer, Mr Agnu Kinini, said the recent terrorist attacks on Munga Lelau in Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State had affected farmers severely.
“There is a renewed terrorist attack on my local government. Several of my relatives were attacked and killed. And they were all farmers. Some of us have fled to other states. I am at the capital of my state now and won’t return to farm any time soon,” he said, wondering why food inflation would decelerate when food-belt communities were being attacked.
Food inflation stood at 21.26 percent in April of 2025 after the National Bureau of Statistics’ rebasing reduced it from 39.84 percent in December 2024. Despite the artificial reduction of the inflation figure, prices of food products have been on the rise. A 50kg bag of rice sells at N80,000 -N100,000 from half the price five years ago. A 50kg bag of beans sells at N150,000 at Jiji.com from half the price in 2020/2021.
In Niger State, the situation is the same. A farmer in Shiroro Local Government Area, who pleaded anonymity for security reasons, recalled that his village, Karaga, was attacked in February this year, with several persons killed.
“Some villagers were killed in February. Today, people are afraid to move around despite that there is relative cam, and assurances by the Federal Government,” he said.
READ ALSO: Terrorist Turji rattles Sokoto, demands N25m from farmers, jobless villagers
“However, several people’s farms no longer exist today because they were trodden by the terrorists and sometimes with their cows,” he noted.
Furthermore, Plateau is a hotbed of crisis, from mostly communal clashes between Fulani and aboroginal people. No fewer than 54 people were killed on April 13 when gunmen invaded Zikke village of Bassa Local Government Area in Plateau State. The gunmen also razed villages and looted homes, destroying everything on their path, according to the Amnesty International.
A farmer in Plateau State, Mr Musa Ishaya, said farming in Plateau State had become “very damgerous.” He noted that some of the farmers had been abducted in the recent past and had not been found.
“The truth is that we are not yet serious in Nigeria. Farmers’ lives are endangered, yet the Federal Government is not doing much to safeguard the people and their properties. We are just being reactionary. We react when people are killed and relax when there seems to be calm. And, unfortunately, that is when terrorists strike.”
Insecurity worsens
Insecurity is geting worse across Nigeria. Boko Haram and ISWAP groups killed no fewer than 40 Borno State farmers on January 13 this year. More than 1,356 farmers in northern Nigeria lost their lives to terrorist and banditry attacks between 2020 and 2024, an SMB Intelligence report noted.
About 55,910 Nigerians were killed and 21,000 abducted by terror groups between 2019 and 2024, according tio a study by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA).
ORFA’s data scientist, Mr Frans Vierhout, claimed that “the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are targeting Christian population, while Muslims also suffer severely at their hands. Kidnappers work to Islamist goals.” He said, “Where young women are kidnapped, tortured and sexually violated, hope for normal married life, and family, may vanish.”
What next?
A security analyst who preferred anonymity said President Bola Tinubu “has not performed so well in security.” He noted that “terrorists have grown stronger wings and seem more equipped than the military who are fighting them.” He advocated the use of intelligence to track terrorists, noting that this was lacking in the security circle.
In 2024, a member of the House of Representatives from Borno State, Mr Ahmed Jaha, asked the Federal Government to recruit military mercenaries to address the security issues in the country.
“We can bring in mercenaries. It was attempted during President Goodluck Jonathan, and they were about to finish Boko Haram. The new president, Muhammadu Buhari, was convinced and he moved them out of the country and the insecurity keeps on escalating to other parts of the country,” he said.
He said as long as “substantial amount of money is not going to be allocated or will continue to be allocated to security agencies, insecurity will never come to an end in Nigeria.”
“From 2015 to 2023, more than N19 trillion was allocated to security and security-related sectors in Nigeria whereas, we have an alternative.”
