Michael Dibie
The residents of IDP Muna camp Maiduguri, Bornu state, Nigeria usually start their day well before dawn with early morning prayers as they prepare for their journey to their farms. Their faces shot with silent prayers, hoping they return safely.
Despite the constant threats, they seek their daily bread with a sense of purpose, their survival instincts driving them forward, some say It’s been over three months now since food aid from the government was shared at the camp.
Farmlands insecurity and violent incidents have stirred fear and terror on farmers in Borno, Northeast Nigeria in recent times. This has had a negative impact on agricultural production, with some farmers leaving their farmlands and others not being able to extend the scale of lands due to most of the lands having become inaccessible because of insecurity.
The decade-long armed conflict in the country’s Northeast has worsened insecurity and terror every rainy season, doubling the index of violent attacks on farmers and death risks in accessing insecure farmlands.
Jesse Attah, Security Intelligent Analyst said security in the north east of Nigeria particularly terrorist burden states, Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa remains an elusive idea given the fact that there is still request for security amidst the significant issue of insecurity posed by terrorist organizations.
“I think one of the issues is information, lack of information has played a role in the re-occurrence of incidents where victims are unable to communicate adequately some of these insecurity issues in their environment. Also it’s still border around the gorilla war fare that terrorist have adopted in attacks in Bornu state,” he added.
According to him ‘also the issue of fear, given the area of bombardment, by the Nigerian Airforce, the group now see locals as spies that give out information on locations to military sources, so some of these suspicions has led to the killings and kidnappings in return”.
In just over two weeks, Bornu alone has experienced over four devastating attacks by Boko Haram insurgents that killed at least 36 lives in the state.
These attacks, mostly targeted at farmers in their fields, threaten a reversal of the relative peace and food security that the state gradually attained over the years.
The attacks which happened between June 14 and June 30 also left many farmers injured and scared many farmers off their fields this season.
The most recent attack was on June 26 when suspected Boko Haram militants ambushed eight farmers on their way to farm and slaughtered seven farmers in Damboa Local Government Area of the state.
Locals and security sources said the incident happened around 11:30am in the Bulajimbam area of the council.
Some farmers from Muna camp, Maiduguri, Bornu state say their farms have become inaccessible because of insecurity and that they are afraid for their lives each day.
“I have two farms one close to the road and another behind the barricade due to insecurity in that area, I have stopped going there because of Boko Haram that kidnap and kill farmers in the area. So that is why I am farming here and not going to the other place, “said Abubarka Ismalia, a farmer.
However, the most disturbing aspect of the killings is the group’s change of modus operandi; many say the insurgents now trail the farmers and slaughter them quietly in their isolated farmlands.
Also, in most of these areas attacked by the insurgents, the locals complained of minimal or no security presence at the time of the attacks.
“We are afraid of Boko Haram so we cannot go to the far away farms because they may kidnap us, and they will ask for ransom before leaving us, so we prefer to farm here close to the road,” said Aisha, a Farmer and a mother of eight children.
A field coordinator with an Ruralfarmershub in the region, Silas said the incident has affected farmer’s inability to have access to adequate farmlands, adding that the insurgency has restricted farmers to the cultivation of farmlands that are not too far away from their homes or within the military liberated/ cleared areas.
He also noted that some locations in the North-East are worst hit due to their high rate of acceptance of Boko Haram ideology.
He reiterated that a deliberate effort should be put in place by the government to implement a better life insurance package for the military officials fighting insurgency in the region and other locations where there are civil unrest.
“Security agents should be well encouraged with better and adequate weapons to effectively bring the insurgents to their knees, Silas noted”
Another resident in the region noted that although a few farmers have decided to look for option B locations, others have decided to leave farming for other activities.
Jubril Adams, a Farmer in the region is urging that the government and humanitarian services should come to their aid adding that their income has depleted as a result of the crisis and they can’t afford to meet up with daily expenses.
“It is affecting us because we use to farm and employ people to work for us and we pay them and the revenue we get from the big farm can sustain us throughout the year, to take care of our families and invest in other small businesses from the revenue we get from the big farm,” he added.
“The smaller farms located close to our homes are what we farm on now but they are not big enough to support the family and liabilities, so we are in financial crisis,” Mustapha Colo, a Farmer.
In June 2022, Borno local farmers in Jere and Maiduguri witnessed high levels of terror attacks and kidnapping.
Residents in the region alleged that the people carrying out the operations are usually armed with rifles and use motorcycles for their operations, a characteristic typical of terrorists all over Nigeria. They believe the group comprises members of the Boko Haram terror group.
One of the residents of the Muna camp, Mustapha Colo said the armed groups kidnap farmers and carry out several terror attacks on farmlands located on the outskirts of the University of Maiduguri and around the Dunomari and Usmanti communities. He also revealed that some of his relatives were declared missing from the very day they visited the farm beyond the military operation trench.
“ We have been looking for some of my relations, they got missing the day they went to the big farms behind the military trench, so we don’t go there again, he said.”
In June 2022, four people from the Mairi community in Jere were kidnapped. The group demanded ransom in millions in order to release the captives to their families and relatives.
About two years ago, over 43 farmers were brutally killed by Boko Haram in Koshebe, a community known for rice farming in Borno. It was also indicated that 15 women were kidnapped from the same community.
Ransom Demand
A recently released group of abductees who returned from captivity observed that their captors seemed to be desperate and in poor physical shape. This desperation is driving a change in tactics, security experts say.
The remnants of notorious terror group Boko Haram, the faction also known as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’adati wal-Jihad, operating in the Northeast, Nigeria have intensified the kidnapping of impoverished individuals, seizing them in larger numbers.
In previous years, the group has seized fewer, high-profile victims and demanded substantial ransoms. In what seems like a shift of strategy, now they favour a larger group from an easy target, pocketing smaller cash turnover, more frequently.
Some say the group now asks for amounts typically between ₦120,000 and ₦150,000 per person, payable within days.
According to Attah, the group has become increasingly desperate adding that soft targets have become their choice targets in their form of operations particularly with the Boko Haram attacks seen in recent months.
“Organized crimes being a form or choice of tactic adopted by various groups in other to raise funds for operations. Boko Haram given their significant capabilities, in recent months, has found themselves in organized crime, kidnapping for ransom in order to raise funds, for sustainability, buying foods, supplies and weapons to sustain the insurgency in the region,” he noted.
Attah reiterated that Ideologies in Nigeria should be geared towards counter terrorism effort and not just on politics alone. Increasing security awareness among the locals and adopting technology in helping the locals to communicate insecurity challenges and also support with robust responses will be a robust way of bring this to an end.
Observers say the new development is due to lack of capacity to mount big kidnap operations, and that they are becoming increasingly more desperate.
A few others are of the the impression the insurgents were struggling to find adequate food supplies, hence the desperation.
Food security
The attacks, which are likely to be higher than reported, mostly took place in southern Borno the agricultural hub of the state and are threatening food security in the state, the North East, and the country at large.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development categorically identifies conflict as one of the major obstacles to achieving food security, implying that one consequence of the attacks on local farmers is increased food insecurity. This clearly indicates that terror attacks on local farmers in Borno grievously impact farm production.
Some nongovernmental organisations’ responses to farmers in conflict areas signify that farmers must be protected and supported in order to mitigate the impact of conflict.
One example is the collaborative initiative by UNDP and the Japanese government to distribute seeds, sprayers, fertiliser, and farming tools in Adamawa State.
In 2021, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)’s Agro Rangers received equipment donations from the North East Development Commission. The Agro Rangers unit is supposed to protect farmers by forestalling attacks on farms and boosting farmers’ confidence in working on their farms. However, little has been seen of their operations at the moment in insecurity-prone areas.
Boko Haram has been splintered since rival group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the Sambisa stronghold in May 2021, an attack which led to the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.
Since the war in the Northeast Nigeria began in early 2010, Boko Haram has raided and looted villages, killed and abducted innocent children, young men and women, made over 2.5 million people destitute, and collapsed the rural economy in the region.