DANGER LOOMS! BENUE STATE OUTLOOK.

Benue State, widely known as the food basket of Nigeria

Benue State?is one of the?North Central?states in?Nigeria?with a population of about 4,253,641 in?2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the seven states created at that time. Benue State lies within the lower?river Benue?trough in the middle belt region of Nigeria. Its geographic coordinates are longitude 7° 47' and 10° 0' East. Latitude 6° 25' and 8° 8' North; and shares boundaries with five other states namely:?Nasarawa State?to the north for 231?km (partly across the Benue River),?Taraba State?to the east for 235?km,?Cross-River State?to the south for 96?km,?Enugu State?to the south-west for 84?km, and?Kogi State?to the west for 153?km. The state also shares a common boundary for 22?km with the?Nord-Ouest Province, claimed by both?Ambazonia?and the?Republic of Cameroon?on the south-east. Benue occupies a landmass of 34,059 square kilometres. It is inhabited predominantly by the?Tiv,?Idoma,and?Igede. Minority ethnic groups in Benue are?Etulo,?Igbo,?Jukun?peoples etc. Its capital is?Makurdi. Benue is a rich agricultural region; popularly grown crops include: oranges,?mangoes,?sweet potatoes,?cassava,?soya bean,?guinea corn,?flax,?yams,?sesame, rice,?groundnuts, and?Palm tree.

History Of Violence

Clashes between herders and farmers date back in decades and at the centre of it is the struggle for land. The conflict worsened after President Muhammadu Buhari came to office in 2015.

In 2016, a massacre occurred in Agatu area of the state where over 500 villagers were killed and thousands displaced, according to the Benue State government.

In January 2018, an attack claimed 72 lives in several communities in the state, leading to a mass burial. As recent as May 2021, the Samuel Ortom-led state government said suspected herdsmen killed over 100 persons in Katsina-Ala LGA.

DEATH SO FAR! The Benue State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, has disclosed that over 6000 persons have lost their lives to armed herdsmen incursions in the state in the last seven years. The?All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN),?Benue State chapter, said 40 per cent of farmers had been displaced in the state since the crisis escalated in 2018, over 600,000 persons have been displaced within this period. In 2018, there were 400,000 IDPs in the state. ?“Farmers in so many local government areas of Benue State are not able to cultivate crops. Half of Guma Local Government Area is left to insecurity. Farmers are all in IDP camps. So many farmers are being killed,” said Saaku Aondongu, chairman of the group in Benue.

“In Gwer-West, three-quarters of the arable land lay fallow due to insecurity. There are no farms. In Kwande LGA, you have majority of the people not farming, because most of the farmers were chased out of their homes by the herdsmen conflict. So, there is a real food shortage in the state. That is why prices of garri, cassava, and yam are so high. There used to be a glut of these products.”

No doubt food production in Benue has nose dive in recent year and a fingers pointing to the unabated killings in the state, once a food basket of the nation has turned into slaughter house of the nation.

Note: this trend is alarming as we are heading for a major food crisis.

Solution is simple the government should stop playing politics with the killings and restore peace, then support this farmers who have been misplaced to go back to their farm so we can navigate this trajectory.