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At least 11 farmers were killed over the weekend in two separate attacks in northeastern Nigeria, anti-jihadist militia fighters said on Sunday, in the latest violence to hit the region’s agricultural communities.
The deadliest incident occurred Saturday in Kuwawu village, Borno State, where seven farmers were rounded up and had their throats slit, according to militia fighter Babakura Kolo.
“All the seven farmers were slaughtered by the ISWAP insurgents and their bodies were recovered and buried yesterday,” Kolo told AFP.
The farmers had travelled from the nearby garrison town of Monguno to prepare their fields for sowing, said militia fighter Ibrahim Liman.
In a separate attack earlier the same day, four farmers were killed on their farms outside Kross Kauwa in the Lake Chad region, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Monguno. Militia fighter Musa Ari blamed the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) for both incidents.
ISWAP, a splinter faction of Boko Haram, and other armed groups have intensified attacks on rural communities in northern and central Nigeria. Criminal gangs known locally as “bandits” also operate in the region, specialising in kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling.
These groups impose levies on farmers seeking access to their fields and target those who refuse to pay. Some farmers, having exhausted their savings on ransoms for kidnapped relatives, can no longer afford the taxes and are abandoning their land.
ISWAP and Boko Haram have previously attacked farmers, loggers, herders and scrap metal scavengers, accusing them of spying for Nigerian troops and anti-jihadist militias.
Last week, 17 farmers were killed and five others injured in northwestern Zamfara State in an attack blamed on criminal gangs.
The violence has taken a heavy toll on agriculture in a region that produces about 70 percent of Nigeria’s cereals—crops consumed locally and exported to neighbouring West African countries.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that the decline in agricultural activity could “aggravate poverty and food insecurity” in a country where millions already face hunger daily.
The IMF has urged the government to protect farmers and herders.
