Smallholder Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON) has raised the alarm over worsening security situation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying they can no longer go to farm because of fear of either being raped or killed by the marauding herdsmen.
The Secretary of SWOFON, FCT chapter, Mercy Nnana, during a press briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, narrated how herdsmen destroyed her three hectares of cassava farm at Kuje Area Council, when she was about to harvest.
She said the farm was not only destroyed, but that her cassava tubers were uprooted and fed to the cows.
According to the women farmers, hundreds of thousands of crops they produced were destroyed by the herders and their cattle, causing most of them to stop going to farm.
SWOFON leader in the FCT, Comfort Sunday, also narrated how herders destroyed her groundnut farm worth over N250,000.
She said: “I almost fought with the herder, but was cajoled by my people to let peace reign and avoid violent clash.”
