Herdsmen

Toki’s farm, located in Arugbokosun village near Idera, was meant to be a source of livelihood. But instead, it has become the site of loss and heartbreak.

Speaking with SaharaReporters, he recounted the devastation, saying, “I planted the maize in April. I spent over N100,000 on seedlings and land preparation alone. I even paid people to help me. In the second week of May, I went to the farm early in the morning to do some weeding and returned later in the evening. What I met was heartbreaking—everything had been eaten up.”

He continued, visibly distressed, “When we got there, cow dung was everywhere. It was painful; imagine all the effort, all the sweat, just gone like that.”

SaharaReporters gathered that this wasn’t an isolated incident. Residents say herdsmen have been destroying farms in the area with impunity.

“People have suffered so much,” Olugbenga said. “The herders usually come in the afternoon when farmers are away. By the time anyone returns, the damage is already done.”

Now, Olugbenga is even afraid to return to his farm.

“My family doesn’t want me to go back; they’re scared. We don’t know when the herders will come again, and I’m losing hope. Bush is already taking over the farm. I just feel discouraged. If I lose my life on that land, what will it all mean?”

He appealed to the Ogun State government for urgent intervention to prevent a full-blown crisis.

“We can’t produce food if our lives are at risk. Cows have taken over our only means of survival, and nothing is being done. People are even afraid to report. If you talk, the herders might come back in greater numbers and destroy even more,” he said.

Another farmer, Biodun, whose farm is located near Mile 6 along Ajebo Road in Ogun State, also shared his ordeal.

“In June, herders came with their cows, and they ate all my cassava. I had already spent so much planting and nurturing them, only for everything to be destroyed overnight,” he said.

“They had come once before and carried out similar destruction; this time makes it the second time that they have destroyed my crops after spending heavily.”

This crisis isn’t new. Back in January, a group of women from the Araromi-Ibese community in Yewa North Local Government Area appealed to the state government and security agencies to take decisive action.

They said they no longer feel safe after repeated invasions of their farmlands.

In August 2024, a deadly clash between local hunters and herdsmen in the Iwoye-Ketu community, Imeko-Afon LGA, resulted in the death of one unidentified person.

Despite multiple promises from the government to tackle the growing menace of herders invading farmlands, residents say those promises have failed to translate into real action.

“The silence is killing us more than the cows,” one resident said. “We’re crying out, but no one seems to be listening.”