By Bisi Olaniyi, Southsouth Bureau Chief 

The Director, Federal Department of Agriculture at Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Abuja, Hajia Karim Babangida, has disclosed the best way to end the attack and killing of innocent Nigerian farmers by criminal herdsmen.

He noted that rather than for the hardworking farmers to be gruesomely murdered in their farms by the marauding criminal herdsmen, they should consider planting most of their crops, especially yam, in sack bags at home, thereby remaining alive to still farm during the next season.

Babangida, who was represented by the Director, Federal Department of Agriculture in Edo State, Mr. Wellington Omoregbon, stated these yesterday at the closing of a two-day workshop for Edo farmers on the management of beetle infestation in yam production, with the theme: ‘Managing Beetle Infestation for High Productivity and Wealth Creation,’ at the headquarters of Edo State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) on Airport Road, Benin.

She said: “Now is the time to change our paradigm and refocus on our way of farming. One of the innovations in the midst of the security crisis and COVID-19 pandemic is the use of sack bags in the production of yam. This will also ensure the production of yam all year round.

”In Nigeria, food crisis is looming, occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic and flood, while the situation is worsened by natural and human-induced disasters, including ethnic and regional conflicts. Sustained agricultural growth is critical to reduce hunger and alleviate poverty, because about 70 per cent of the poor in developing countries live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, either directly or indirectly.

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”Yam is a major staple food for an estimated 60 million Nigerians. There has been a steady growth in yam production since 1997, with an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent per year. This accounts for the position of Nigeria as the highest producer globally.”

The director, federal department of agriculture, Abuja, also stated that eradicating hunger and reducing poverty were major development policy objectives of many developing countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2, targeted at reducing to half, the proportion of undernourished people in the world by the year 2030.

Babangida noted that in spite of Nigeria being the highest producer of yam worldwide and the growth in its production, infestation by yam tuber beetles had been posing a major constraint to increased yam output, which she said must be tackled head on.

FMARD’s Desk Officer, Yam Value Chain, Mrs. Perpetua Iyere-Usiahon, while speaking at the workshop, declared that death of farmers in the hands of criminal herdsmen could be prevented through the use of sack bags for the production of crops, especially yam.

She said: “Save yourself the trouble of going into the farms, only to be killed by the criminal herdsmen, by planting yam and other crops inside sack bags at home, thereby avoiding the cost of weeding. There is more money in it and you can produce yam throughout the year.”

“If you control beetles and you cannot go to your farms to plant, you have not achieved anything. The use of sack bags for planting yam is to avert insecurity in the country. Instead of having problems with the criminal herdsmen, leading to frequent clashes involving farmers and herders, sack bags can be used to plant near houses.

“Before now, there were cultural methods that people were using, especially careful selection of seed yam to be planted and the use of chemicals to treat the seed yam before planting, which unfortunately leaves chemical residue on the plant and in the soil, even in the next 100 years. We are discouraging the use of chemical dust for yam cultivation. Any yam that is infested by beetles, do not plant it, but some farmers are stubborn.

“We have come up with an organic solution/dust, which we use to treat the yam before planting. The organic dust serves both as fertiliser and treatment for the beetle infestation, with the production to be high, sustainable and non-toxic, thereby being fit for consumption.”

One of the participants at the workshop, Mrs. Golden Ameme, who is the National Vice-President, South-South, National Association of Yam Farmers, Processors and Marketers, in her remarks, stated that confrontation with the AK-47 wielding criminal herdsmen must always be avoided by the farmers by being innovative.

While also speaking, another participant, Collins Ogbeide, stressed that Nigerian farmers should continually be conscious of insecurity across the country.

In order to support fifty of the participating Edo state’s farmers, seed yams, sack bags and organic-based insecticides were freely distributed to them by top officials of FMARD.