Borno records bumper harvest despite insurgency

Despite ongoing insurgency and continued occupation of farmlands by Boko Haram insurgents in some parts of Borno State, farmers say they recorded bumper harvests in most of the areas that farming took place. Most of the farmers spoken to said they succeeded in harvesting their crops such as groundnuts, beans, rice, maize and millets. When […]

Despite ongoing insurgency and continued occupation of farmlands by Boko Haram insurgents in some parts of Borno State, farmers say they recorded bumper harvests in most of the areas that farming took place.
Most of the farmers spoken to said they succeeded in harvesting their crops such as groundnuts, beans, rice, maize and millets.
When this reporter visited some parts of Borno south, where a lot of farming activities took place due to decrease in insurgency activities, farmers in Hawul, Biu and Shani local government areas said they successfully harvested their crops and that they recorded bumper harvest.
Alhaji Kadalla Mari is a rice farmer in Biu who said, while conducting this reporter round the grains market in Biu: “You can see hundreds of bags of new rice everywhere. I harvested over 280 bags from my farm alone. There are some farmers that harvested far more than that. We are sure of having sufficient food this time around.”
At Azare, the capital of Hawul Local Government, an official of the young farmers club, said they were motivated to embark on mass farming activities in the area when they saw the state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Usman Durkwa, clearing his farm.
“You know last year by this time when farmers were harvesting their crops, insurgents struck and carted away farm produce and set the entire farms ablaze in most parts of the state. People were contemplating whether to farm or not. The deputy governor is from here. When we saw him coming to clear his farm, we all started clearing our farms. We are having a bumper harvest this year,” he said.
In areas like Kaga, Gubio and Konduga local governments where insurgents disrupted harvest during the 2015 farming activities, most farmers have still gone to farm amid fear and that they had successful harvest.
Ali Modu from Tungushe village told this reporter that he recorded better harvest this year compared to last year.
“I got five bags of maize last year and was about harvesting my beans when insurgents came and stole my maize and burnt down the beans farm. This time around, I got seven bags of maize and four bags of beans from the same farm,” he said.
Most markets visited in the state are now stocked with new grains coming from farms around the state which also signalled improved economic activities as farmers who sold their produce were seen shopping in Maiduguri, the state capital.