Tribune The urgent need for food security · Wednesday, 06 November 2013 00:00 The gruesome murder of Yoruba traders in Borno State in two consecutive months - May and June, 2013 - has been having social and economic reverberations. A total of 14 traders from Bodija market, Ibadan who went on their usual business trips to buy beans in the north-eastern state lost their lives in brutal attacks which occurred in circumstances that are yet to be fully ascertained. The killers of the second batch of 10 hapless traders were said to have made away with their victims’ N40 million. As a result of the gory incidents, Yoruba traders stopped going to Borno State for the commodity, thereby losing direct access to the source of supply. The Hausa traders who immediately filled the vacuum have since been selling the commodity at more than double the normal price at the same Bodija market. This led to a disagreement which culminated in a bloody clash between the two groups of traders. It was the intervention of Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State that restored normalcy at the market. The conclusion of security agents was that the traders were killed by Boko Haram insurgents. A non-political association, the Ominira Yoruba Apapo (OYA), at a recent news conference, subjected the incidents to a critical examination. The group wondered why the traders and their money should be the target of the religious fanatics. It argued that the traders were not caught in a bomb blast or cross fire and thus concluded that they must have been tailed to Borno State so as to shift all attention to the murderous sect. The group’s suspicion of a well-planned onslaught, murder and robbery was strengthened by the fact that the Hausa driver of the bus in which the traders were travelling was not killed. The group went on to urge the government of Oyo State to press for a thorough investigation so that the truth of the killings can be unearthed. The murder of the traders in Borno State, and the present high cost of beans and some other food items, underscore the critical issue of food security. The old Western Region was self-sufficient in food production. The Cocoa House, which was for many years the tallest building in Nigeria, the first modern stadium in the country, the first television station in Africa, the Ikeja Industrial Estate and other magnificent structures and projects were put in place with earnings from agriculture - mainly cocoa. Erin Oke and Erin Ijesha were producing rice in substantial quantities. There were farm settlements for cash and arable crops in different parts of the region. There was a thriving enterprise in animal husbandry at Fashola near Oyo up till the late 1980s. Dependence on external sources for animal protein was minimal and food items were in abundance. Today, there has been a great change which regrettably is not for the better. In spite of its endowment with very fertile soil, the same region can no longer meet its food needs. Beans, rice, beef, onions, tomatoes, different species of pepper and dried fish now come from elsewhere. This is why traders from the same region, in the face of imminent danger, have been covering considerable distances searching for food items to buy. It is therefore not enough to resolve conflicts. It is more important to reflect on their causes and take steps to prevent a recurrence. So much has been said about food security at the different levels of government but nothing concrete has been done about it. The present situation in which a journey to a source of food supply can be likened to a suicide attempt should be of serious concern to the people in authority. The goal of regional integration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governments in the South-West should have agriculture as its centrepiece and its implementation should not be hampered by differences in political affiliation. It should not be lost on the political leaders that there is a serious food crisis which calls for urgent action. The young people who now earn a precarious living as commercial motorcyclists can be attracted to farming if the enabling environment is provided. With a rapidly-growing population, there should be no further delay in the mechanisation of agriculture. The old farm settlements should be resuscitated and new ones should be established. Basic necessities of life should be provided to make the rural environment habitable. Agricultural extension services should be adequately equipped to educate young farmers on farming techniques while improved seeds and seedlings should be made available at subsidised prices. Government should encourage large-scale investment in agriculture because subsistence farmers can only produce for their families and not for the market. The near-total abandonment of agriculture in the South-West is the remote cause of the human and material losses in Borno State and the bloody clash at the Bodija market. Political leaders in the region and other geo-political zones in a similar situation should ponder the hypothetical question: what will happen if there is an interruption or outright stoppage of food supply from the present sources? Food security has become an imperative which should be pursued with utmost vigour. And the fact to note is that it cannot be achieved by relying on the aging farming population.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 07:48:35 +0000
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