Our farmlands have been seized, Kano farmers’ enclave petitions FG

The Katarkawa Enclave Farmers Association in Warawa Local Government Area of Kano State has petitioned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development over alleged taking over of their farmlands by the council. The petition, which was addressed to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, was signed by the chairman of the […]

The Katarkawa Enclave Farmers Association in Warawa Local Government Area of Kano State has petitioned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development over alleged taking over of their farmlands by the council.

The petition, which was addressed to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, was signed by the chairman of the association, Alhaji Adamu Hotoro, and made available to newsmen in Kano.

The petitioner also alleged that some of the farmlands were sold to individuals by a former chairman of the local government council, Alhaji Ibrahim Danlasan.

“No fewer than 276 farmers were cultivating the 1, 014 hectares of farmland under the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) but not more than 30 per cent of the farmers are now cultivating their farmlands.

“The NALDA is a Federal Government project that is aimed at boosting food production and security by providing farmers opportunities for rain-fed and dry season farming,” Hotoro said.

He alleged that since the officials of the local government took over some of the farmlands and sold them to individuals, the farmers had been battling to recover them but to no avail.

The state coordinator of NALDA, Malam Sani Hamza, confirmed the story, saying that the state office had written a letter of complaint to its national headquarters which was copied to Warawa District Head and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area.

But when contacted, the former local government council chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Danlasan, who was accused of taking over of farmlands during his tenure, told Daily Trust that the farmlands were not allocated to farmers directly.

He said the farmlands which belonged to the local government council were allocated to NALDA for the implementation of its agricultural project for six years.

“After the expiration of the period, the local government took over the land, after it discovered that some of the farmers had started selling the lands,” he said.