Farmers in Birnin-Gwari LGA of Kaduna, have paid not less than N400 million in levies and taxes to armed bandits, who have been holding sway in the area, says Zubairu Abdulra’uf, managing director of the state’s media corporation.

“When you talk of Birnin-Gwari Local Government as a whole, it is between N300 million to N400 million paid to these bandits,” Mr Abdulra’uf said in an interview. “And when you access your farm after paying these taxes, they will now tell you that apart from giving them money, you will give a ratio of two bags of every 10 bags of all the assorted grains you harvest.”

The official said local farmers are bogged down by unrelenting demands by the fiery bandits.

Birnin Gwari is one of the five LGAs in Kaduna where banditry is rife and continues to defy government’s countermeasures.

Aside Birnin Gwari, other LGAs ravaged by the terror group are Giwa, Chikun, Igabi, and Kajuru, all in the southern part of the state.

Mr Abdulra’uf explained that the farmers, who had been living in palpable fear for the past two years over violent attacks, have resorted to paying taxes to the bandits in three tranches.

According to him, the attacks on the people had completely paralysed economic activities in communities and also made transportation impossible.

“You have to pay pre-season and mid-season when the crops are about to start yielding. You will pay these bandits because they will not allow you to have access to your farm.

“Then, at the end of the season when you are harvesting, you will give these bandits money before you access your farm.

“So, we are living in a situation where people can no longer work or even travel one kilometre from Birnin-Gwari town to other areas and it is the same thing that we have in all the districts in Birnin Gwari.”

Mr Abdulra’uf added that some of the farmers have now adopted “self-defence” tactics to protect themselves against external aggressors.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) the people of Randegi confronted these bandits who tried to overrun the farming community, and they succeeded in dislodging these bandits.

“So, I think our people are now ready if the government cannot perform its constitutional function.

“Randegi is one of the areas where these bandits have their routes through Zamfara State to Niger State,” he said.

Mr Abdulra’if, however, expressed worries stressing that something urgent needs to be done to allay the fears of the local farmers to avoid a food crisis in the state.

“If something is not done, we are going to have a food crisis. Birnin-Gwari used to produce at least 700 metric tonnes of assorted grains but now people cannot access their farms.

“There are many cases, since the beginning of this rainy season, that people are being abducted on their way to the farm and even the cattle they use for farming are being collected from them.”

Local farmers in mostly Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Giwa, and Kajuru had raised the alarm that they might not be able to farm due to killings and constant threats by bandits.

Many of them had given a graphic narration of how bandits killed mostly male farmers and stole their motorcycles on their farms.

Last year, the state government through the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed that bandits were taxing farmers in parts of Birnin-Gwari, Giwa, Igabi, and Chikun LGAs to grant them access to their farms.

Both Governors of Katsina and Zamfara States, Aminu Masari and Bello Matawalle had asked residents in areas prone to the activities of bandits to acquire weapons and defend themselves.