Mayhem in farms as herders’ attacks deepen food crisis

Across Nigeria, the escalating attacks by armed herdsmen are forcing thousands of farmers to abandon their lands, leading to a growing food crisis. Once-thriving farmlands now lie fallow as fear grips rural communities, with farmers fleeing for safety rather than risk their lives, writes VICTOR AYENI

The evening of February 15, 2025, was like any other Saturday evening as the golden ball of sunshine dipped below the horizon of Benue State’s vast landscape.

While some residents of the Mbandwa community in the Kwande Local Government Area of the state sat outside their homes on that fateful day to enjoy the cool breeze, others were returning from their farms and fishing trips.

Suddenly, the loud cracks of gunfire echoed through the village, coming from the direction of a farm, and sending waves of panic through the community.

Women screamed in terror, children dashed into their homes, and everyone scrambled for safety as the gunshots continued unabated.

After an hour, news went round the village that gunmen believed to be herdsmen ambushed some farmers walking home on Kashimbila Road, killed 16 of them and reportedly threw their bodies into the Katsina-Ala river.

For many residents of the quiet community, such attacks by rampaging killer herdsmen were not novel; neither had they ceased since then.

Barely two days after the February 15 attack, in Boguwa community, suspected herdsmen killed three more farmers, forcing many residents to flee to Jato-Aka, a neighbouring community, for safety.

Herdsmen on the rampage

Most herdsmen are believed to be a migratory group of Fulanis, who due to severe drought, have been forced out of the far northern region of Nigeria to find resources to graze their cattle on.

Some experts have opined that environmental pressures forced these nomadic herders to migrate southward in search of resources such as grazing land and water.

As the pastoralists moved south, the absence of grazing reserves and clear land tenure policies led to their encroachment on local farmlands, deepening tensions in the Middle Belt areas, including Benue, Kogi, Plateau, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

These herders, Saturday PUNCH gathered, now predominantly reside in the Middle Belt areas, which are home to the majority of non-Hausa farmers, who make up about 75 per cent of the population.

“Herder-farmer violence and genocide are a constant reality and threat for those residing in the Middle Belt areas, including Benue, Taraba and Plateau states, where contests for this land have resulted in over 10,000 deaths, and thousands more displaced,” the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust noted.

In 2018, the Global Terrorism Index named these armed herdsmen as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world.

A food basket in crisis

Nicknamed ‘Food Basket of the Nation,’ Benue State is home to thousands of people who are mostly farmers, while others who reside in the riverine areas of the state engage in fishing as their primary or secondary occupation.

Benue is a rich agricultural region, and common crops cultivated in the state include yams, cassava, oranges, palm trees, rice, sweet potatoes and guinea corn.

Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that although the herders-farmers clashes have been a frequent occurrence in the state for years, there was a sharp rise in the rate of the clashes from 2014 with a crescendo in 2018.

This sharp rise was said to have been recorded around the time the state government commenced the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017, which compelled many herders to migrate to neighbouring states like Nasarawa and Taraba.

“Although there has been insecurity in some other areas of the state, it was around 2021 that this crisis spread to my village,” a Nyhiemba resident who preferred to be called Michael Terwase, told Saturday PUNCH.

“We share a boundary with Taraba State, so these herdsmen often enter our state from there. These Fulani bandits have chased the original Tiv inhabitants away from Tanko, as well other communities such as Wanyiase, Yande, Jimewo, and Anwase, all in Kwande LGA.

“My village is majorly a farming community and many residents are usually attacked while they are still in their farms or late at night when they are deep asleep. These attacks are all unprovoked; the herders want to take over our land,” Terwase said in a sad tone.

The 28-year-old told our correspondent about his family friend in the community, a mother of six named Margaret, who became widowed when herdsmen ambushed and killed her husband while he was returning from a fishing trip.

This, he explained further, was also the fate of a mother of two whose name was simply given as Mercy. Her husband had gone to another community to farm but was killed in an attack by rampaging herders.

“There are so many victims of these attacks. Many of them have fled from neigbouring communities to my village,” Terwase added. “Last year, there was no rain, so many people didn’t farm as they normally did. The others who farmed later regretted it. This is one of the major causes of looming hunger.

“The present Benue State is no longer the food basket of the nation because there’s now hunger in the land. There is also a high rate of stealing in our villages. We rarely rear animals here anymore because people now steal them and that’s because there is no food.”

Terwase attributed the skyrocketing prices of farm produce to the inability of locals to go to their farms due to fear, adding that women and children were also affected by the insurgency.

“You will see many children wandering around without food and they don’t even know the whereabouts of their parents because they went missing during the crisis.

“It is not uncommon here to find a family taking care of the children of other parents whose whereabouts are unknown because they fled to different places during raids by herdsmen. These children have nobody to look after them; they can’t even go to school.

“Food is now expensive because people are no longer going to their farms. Killer herdsmen now fully reside in the bushes and they pounce on farmers who return to their farms. There have been many cases of farmers who left their farms, only for their dead bodies to be returned home,” he added.

Alleged complicity

Speaking through a translator, an indigene of Adikpo, a quiet town in Benue State, who gave his name simply as Emmanuel, told our correspondent that many of the residents had fled their communities and now resided in the state capital.

The farmer, who now resides in Abuja, accused security operatives of being complicit in the insecurity which he said had led to farms being taken over by armed herdsmen.

“The people are not armed to defend themselves from these killers,” Emmanuel said. “I believe there are politicians complicit in this. My town, Adikpo, shares a boundary with Cross River, and there have been reports of trailers loaded with herders and their cows coming into town and returning to communities where they had been previously chased out from.

“According to those reports, these herdsmen were being protected by soldiers who threatened to shoot any resident who dared attack the herds. Our people just watch helplessly. This has happened thrice but we can’t do anything to stop it.”

Emmanuel explained that years ago, youths in the town could rent an acre of land for farming for a price which ranged between N10,000 and N20,000. This, he lamented, had changed with the tide of insecurity.

“Now, the least you can rent for farming is N100,000 because the areas where people used to go to farm freely are no longer safe.

“I heard that these herders even pay community members to help them as spies and informants. They are paid N100,000 or N200,000 as I was told. These people then join in their attacks and in some cases, are also killed while at it. They then place a sum of money on their corpses. Some community leaders are also bribed to remain silent.

“Before December 25, 2024, these herdsmen sent a letter that they were coming to attack some villages. The people thought they were joking because they had made similar threats before and didn’t eventually show up. But on Christmas Day, they invaded some communities and killed many people,” Emmanuel added.

A farmer, who preferred to be called Agnes Nomor, told Saturday PUNCH that the waves of herdsmen attacks in communities such as Nyemba and Jato-Aka had led to the displacement of the residents of the villages.

“I lived in Udei, but last month, there was an attack there and many of us fled. We have no choice but to accept herdsmen. They have already invaded our lands and will kill us if we resist them, and nothing will happen. I too, escaped to stay in Makurdi after they came one evening while we were on our farms.”

Nomor disclosed that her husband was murdered during one of the attacks on her village; an incident which had displaced many others to neighbouring states and towns, far away from their homes and farms.

“I can tell you that my people have left the farmlands for these herdsmen in frustration. Our lands are now empty, and people won’t return because they know the government won’t protect them.

“These herdsmen also come with their cattle and they feed on our crops, leading to losses, and if you try to stop their cows from doing this, the Fulani men can shoot or stab you.

“These guys are armed with AK-47s and when they fire these guns, even the sounds alone send fear through one’s body. It makes you wonder, how are they getting these guns and who is supplying them?” the mother of two queried.

State promises to end the carnage

The Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, was said to have expressed worry over the incessant attacks on Kwande communities by armed herdsmen and warned those who had used his name to stir up controversy in the area.

“Read my lips. The remorseless barbarity of these assailants and their sponsors will soon be a thing of the past,” the governor said in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula.

Raising a motion at plenary on Wednesday, the lawmaker representing Benue North-West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Titus Zam, decried how  Garuwa community was invaded by bandits who masqueraded as herders on March 10, 2025, resulting in the killings of four persons.

“I have on several occasions moved motions and presented bills on this subject matter, including the bill for open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment, which is awaiting a public hearing.

“The Senate is also aware that the Benue State House of Assembly has enacted an open-grazing prohibition law, which still subsists,” Zam said.

Last year, Amnesty International revealed that over 50 rural communities in Benue State recorded at least 135 attacks which led to the deaths of over 2,600 people.

The group described these attacks as “significantly affecting food security and livelihood because the affected communities are farmers, and displacements make them unable to carry out any farming activity.”

Spiralling violence

Saturday PUNCH gathered that out of the 165 farmers killed this year, the highest number was recorded in Benue State, where 130 of them were killed by the bandits.

The Association of Nigerian Farmers in the state noted that 130 farmers were killed by bandits in four local government areas of the state.

Also, in Sokoto State, 28 farmers have been killed since the beginning of the year, while six farmers lost their lives in Niger State during attacks by bandits.

In Sokoto State, the association lamented that not less than N3bn had been paid by its members as ransoms to bandits, who kidnapped them from their farms.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations has projected that 33.1 million Nigerians will be food insecure between June and August 2025, a figure which reflected a seven million increase from the same period the previous year.

“Persistent violence in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe hinders food availability and access. Additionally, armed banditry and kidnappings in North-West and farmer-herder conflicts in the North-Central states exacerbate the prevailing economic struggles,” the report noted.

In Delta and Edo states, farmers in some communities have also raised an alarm about bandit attacks and their inability to gain access to their farms following incessant kidnappings.

For instance, a farmer in the Ute-Okpu community of Delta State, Okwudili Uti, lamented that farmers had abandoned farms in Ute-Erumu and Abavo in the Ika North-East LGA due to kidnappings by bandits.

“Until recently when the kidnapping started, we usually go to farms in groups. But last week, about eight farmers were kidnapped, and some paid ransoms of between N1m and N5m.

“Our farm produce have all gone bad in the farms because we cannot go to the farm even in groups, due to the fear of being kidnapped.”

On March 4, women from Eha-Ohala, comprising Mgbuji, Umujove, and Abor communities in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State protested against persistent attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

According to the protesters, over 150 people from the affected communities had been killed between 2020 and 2025.

“Every year, during harvest, Fulani herdsmen come and occupy our farms, destroying our livelihood. We’re farmers, and we have no other means to survive except through farming,” a farmer, Mrs Roseline Odoh, lamented.

Ban on open grazing controversy

In June 2024, tension ran high when the bill to ban open grazing successfully passed its second reading in the Nigerian Senate.

The bill, if enacted, will finally prohibit open grazing across the country and resolve the longstanding attacks on farmers by rampaging herdsmen.

Conversely, the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has opposed the proposed law for the establishment of ranches and the prohibition of open grazing across the country.

The National Deputy Director-General and chieftain of the organisation in the South East, Gidado Siddiki, in a statement he signed said those who advocate for the ban on open grazing might not fully understand the realities faced by pastoralists.

Siddiki said, “It is imperative to modernise livestock management practices in Nigeria, given the significant changes brought about by civilisation. The pastoralists in Nigeria lack awareness of modern livestock management techniques, necessitating a gradual transition.

“Instead of hastily implementing laws that could disrupt their livelihoods, I propose that the government establish a commission to educate pastoralists on the benefits and necessity of transitioning to modern livestock management practices; provide training to young pastoralists on ranching methods; and identify suitable locations for ranching activities.

“Enforcing a blanket ban on open grazing without offering viable alternatives would only impede the cattle business. Therefore, it is essential to approach this issue with sensitivity and pragmatism.”

In a move to address the farmer-herder conflict and also boost food production, several northern states have adopted the National Livestock Transformation Plan popularly known as the Rural Grazing Area initiative.

So far, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Bauchi, Nasarawa and others have mapped out large swathes of land for the RUGA take-off.

While Borno State has settled 461 herder families under its RUGA initiative, Plateau and Benue, however, ruled out involvement in the scheme.

“There are two issues involved in the bill to ban open grazing,” a lawyer, Sylvester Ochei, told our correspondent. “While it’s laudable for a ban to be placed on open grazing due to the security crisis caused by herders across the country, the part of the bill that seeks to establish ranches with public resources should be questioned.

“Cattle rearing is a private business; it’s not state-owned. The government should not give it a priority of support over other privately-owned business or other aspects of farming in the country. If the government wishes to support ranching for herders, fine, but the same support should also be extended to farmers, especially since they have been at the losing end.”

Mayhem spreading down south

Last year, an Ibadan-based farmer, Abiola Agbaje, could not believe his eyes when he arrived at his farm in the Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, to find his crops decimated by herds of cattle.

Standing afar off as he watched heads of cattle grazing on his farm, tears welled up in the eyes of the 32-year-old.

“I stood afar off and I thought I was in the wrong farm,” Agbaje lamented. “My maize and plantain crops have been completely eaten by these cows and I could see Fulani herdsmen with them in my farm. From the way I saw them stationed there, it appears they are now residing in my farm.

“I couldn’t confront them because they appeared to be armed. They fed on my hard-earned money and reduced me to a beggar. Throughout last year, no farmer in this area could go to their farms.”

In a video posted on X by a farmer, Ajele the Scientist, on December 17, 2024, the X user could be seen confronting a herder who was believed to have brought his cows to graze on his crops.

“Please help me capture this on video,” Ajele instructed the man behind the camera, as he struggled to wrest a machete from the herder who spoke Fulfulde.

“I want to deal with this herder. What are you doing on my farm? I will kill you here today. We have told you, people, to stop bringing your cows to graze on our farms, you won’t listen,” Ajele could be heard saying in the video.

The herder eventually fled into the bush after the X user succeeded in taking the machete from his hands.

“This is my farmland and this is happening to us,” Ajele wrote in his replies. “Of course, I completely understand what could be coming and we are fully prepared. We reported to the police but they told us to stay away for now. To stay away from where? Nigeria is indeed a lawless country.”

Recounting a similar ordeal, a farm owner in Oyo State, Dr Anike Shobayo, described the invasion of farming communities in the state by herders as one that had forced many to abandon their farms for their safety.

“I am affected by the same issue,” she told Saturday PUNCH. “I have abandoned farming for now because of these folks. The herders took over my farmland and brought their cows to destroy my cashew crops. I eventually had to abandon the place.

“I had issued them an ultimatum to leave my farm. We put barbed wires around the area to bar them from coming, and we even talked to their leader, but these herders refused to leave. They simply live on the land for free, farm it and eat whatever we plant.”

Shobayo reiterated that the land was sold to her by the Oyo State Government, yet no effort had been made on their part to recover it from suspected Fulani herdsmen.

“I contacted Amotekun but their security service is not free. Villagers advised us not to engage in a tussle with these herdsmen so they wouldn’t ambush us and kill us.

“The truth is these herders are using their cows as tools of conquests and consider those grazed lands to be their ranches. If these things don’t change, they will eventually reach a boiling point and explode,” she added.

Women raped

Although herdsmen are generally believed to take over spatial territory, several farmers have accused this militia of also “taking over the bodies of women” to inflict terror on communities.

“These herdsmen have sexually assaulted female farmers working on their farms. There have been cases where they met these women in the bush, even older women, and they gang-raped them.

“Some of our female colleagues were murdered after this occurred but from the manner in which we found their bodies, we knew what happened before they were killed.

“Many who are survivors are ashamed to speak about it. This is a close-knit community and the women could be stigmatised if they speak about their assault. These are issues that should be looked into,” a farmer in Iseyin, Oyo State, who pleaded anonymity confided in our correspondent.

On March 8, a member of the House of Representatives, Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, raised the alarm that armed herdsmen had invaded Ogunmakin, Gambari Reserve, and surrounding communities within the Oluyole Federal Constituency in Oyo State.

Akande-Sadipe, in a statement by her Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Olamilekan Olusada, alleged that herdsmen had destroyed farm produce, intimidated local farmers, and utilised weapons such as guns and cutlasses to instil fear in residents of the communities.

The lawmaker called on relevant arms of the Federal Government and security agencies to intervene before the people were completely wiped out from their ancestral homes.

In November 2024, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde commended the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for establishing the Agro Rangers Squad, a specialised unit that was set up to protect farmers from attacks on their farmlands.

‘They destroyed our farms’

Recounting his ordeal, an Ogun State farmer who gave his name simply as Habeeb, said he visited one of his farms last month and to his horror, found that suspected herders had brought their cows to graze on his cassava plantation.

“They finished my 20 acres of cassava plantation. They ate everything overnight! The field was filled with crops three days ago. Now I’m at a serious loss.

“Despite the massive investment in chain link wire fencing of the perimeter, these herders still found their way into the farm overnight to cause this monumental damage. They pulled down the fence. Now, I see the reason the farmer-herders clashes will continue in this country.”

Similarly, on January 27, a group of women from Araromi-Ibese community in Ogun State took to the streets to protest against the growing insecurity posed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in their area.

According to a video clip shared by Yoruba Times on X, the women, who were visibly distraught, expressed their frustration and fear over the constant attacks and harassment they face at the hands of the Fulani.

“I no longer feel safe in my community,” one of the protesters said, her voice shaking with emotion. “I had to give birth to my child in the bush while running for my life. The Fulani people have destroyed my farmland, taken away all my farm products, and left me with nothing.”

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, said farmlands will be secured through a heavy deployment of security guards to protect farmers.

“Our security agencies have revitalised their winning formula and strategies, including visible presence in every nook and cranny of the state, patrols, manning of key and vulnerable points, black spots, intelligence-led operations and community partnership,” he said.