Farming communities displaced by violent attacks in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, have appealed to the Federal Government to include them in its planned Housing Resettlement Programme.
The communities said such intervention will enable them to return quickly to their farms and contribute their quota towards ensuring food security in the post-COVID-19 era.
The farmers in the communities live in despair as they count their losses from the attacks of suspected herdsmen on their farms.
The farmers said the brutal attacks have not only left many of them killed but have also left their only source of livelihood in ruins.
About 30 households who are mostly farmers from B/Ladi, Riyom, Jos South, and Miango in Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau have been displaced.
The rains have come with the farming season; but majority of the inhabitants still displaced far from home are idle and unable to farm this year.
The farmers welcomed the new drive by the government asking Nigerians to produce what they consume but added that such a drive will be a lot more meaningful and sustainable when displaced farming communities are properly resettled and empowered.
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They want the government to keep this in mind as it works out strategies to tackle the challenges of food security in the post-COVID-19 era.
(Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu)
