Sunday, some farmers in Nigeria's North-West area said that they would support Atiku Abubakar, the PDP candidate (PDP).
Farmers expressed anticipation that the candidate will address the issue of insecurity and other issues plaguing farmers in the area during a town hall meeting organised by Atiku's campaign committee.
Farmers from the states of Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Kebbi were present at the conference when the Atiku campaign promised to address the farmers-herders problem if its candidate was elected president in February.
Baraka Sani, a former advisor to Goodluck Jonathan and commissioner for agriculture in Kano State, attended the ceremony on Atiku's behalf.
Ashiru Lawan, the head of the Sorghum and Millet Farmers' Association in Sokoto state, warned journalists after the event that political sabotage of the delivery of agricultural inputs and insecurity was lowering productivity.
“The biggest challenge now in Southern Sokoto is insecurity, which has prevented us from cultivating our land. Our quest for a solution to the problem makes us travel to Kano to engage stakeholders,” Lawan said.
“The government should provide farming inputs and fertiliser at a subsidised price, early before the commencement of the rainy season. Let the government know that the so-called support was not given to farmers but to some politicians who eventually selected their followers who are not farmers as the beneficiaries.
“Whatever data the government want to know about farmers in any community in Sokoto, they should engage the traditional rulers of respective communities who can identify the actual farmers.
“What we want from the presidential candidate of the PDP is to ensure that peace returns to our respective communities to enable our people to return to their farms,” Lawan said.
Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Kebbi states have been particularly affected by terrorist bands, sometimes known as bandits, attacking towns and travellers. Millions of people have fled their homes because of these gangs, and thousands more have been slaughtered or kidnapped. Farming has been interrupted by the unusual violence in the region.
Although the Nigerian government has sent in security forces, the killings and kidnappings have continued unabated.
Nafi’u Muhammad, Lawan’s counterpart in the neighbouring state of Kebbi, complained about the government’s lacklustre support for the farmers and the devastation wrought by insecurity.
“The Zuru and Yauri Emirates in Kebbi are the biggest producer of Sorghum in the state. Unfortunately, they are the worst hit by banditry, which has prevented farmers from cultivating their farmlands. About 50 per cent of the farmlands in those areas have yet to be cultivated due to the activities of armed bandits in the last three years.
“We have consistently, reported our ordeals to the appropriate authorities but nothing has been done to prevent the situation. From what Baraka Sani (Atiku’s campaign) has said, we hope that there will be light at the end of the presidential candidate of the PDP won the election,” he said.
“For the past five years in Kebbi, I have been gathering data about farmers, but I have never for once received any support from the data. The farmers in Kebbi believed that their data were being used to get billions in the name of support, but he lamented that support never reached them.
According to Shafa’u Yunus, a poultry farmer, the high cost of feeds and lack of government backing are two of the biggest problems in the industry.
“We have hope that if (Atiku) is elected as a successful businessman, he will address this problem.
“We, as farmers, believe that any country that cannot feed its citizens from locally homegrown foods is not qualified to be called an independent country.
“My call for them is that if they are given the mandate, they should not repeat the mistake of supporting people who are not the real farmers because that is killing the system.
“We are witnessing how some government officials will sit in the comfort of their offices, write fictitious names, and claim all the privileges and support meant for farmers.
“In some instances, they give farm inputs to political thugs who eventually sold out the items without considering their values,” Mrs Yunus lamented.
Mrs Sani responded by reciting the PDP presidential candidate Atiku’s agricultural proposals to sway farmers to vote for him in the upcoming election.
She said: “Atiku is a farmer and a businessman, who is also facing similar challenges of lack of fertiliser, and seedlings like any other farmer in the country. He is assuring that he will address the problem if elected as the president.”
Mrs Sani has stated that farmers can assist in alleviating the issue of the naira’s ongoing depreciation versus the dollar by ensuring that the populace has access to sufficient food without having to resort to the import of expensive food from abroad.
If elected, the PDP government led by Atiku promises to invest in the agricultural industry by bringing new technologies to farming and tackling the problems farmers and herders face.