September 4, (THEWILL) – A middle-aged farmer from Ezi-Ogbaku Community, in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, Mrs Peace Onwuzurike, is grieving, over the destruction of her farm crops by herdsmen.
Speaking to THEWILL in an emotion-laden voice on Thursday, Onwuzurike explained that she did her first commercial farming in 2022 and that the turn-up was encouraging, hence she sought for loan from a Microfinance bank and acquired more lands.
Onwuzurike, who said she graduated from the University of Lagos, noted that she was residing in Lagos State with her husband, before she returned home and engaged into farming, after she had searched for a white-collar job, but could not secure any.
“I got loan of Three Hundred Thousand Naira (N300,000) and channelled it into 14 plots of land. Sadly, Fulani cows destroyed all of them. What I have here is not up to Three (3) plots”, she lamented.
She further disclosed how she was nearly butchered in her farmland by an enraged herdsman, when she confronted them to stop the grazing on her farmlands.
Other farmers, who counted loses were Elizabeth Eke, Obiageri Chukwu and Lois Nwigwebalso, who told THEWILL that the herdsmen had threatened to hit them with machetes if they refused to give them water.
They said they stopped visiting their farmlands due to fear of being attacked by the herdsmen, who they said have resorted to uprooting their 3-month-old cassava to feed their cattle.
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