Farmers Decry Persistent ‘Bandit Levies’, Warn They Could Worsen Food Crisis

Farmers in the northern region have raised the alarm over the escalating “bandit levies”,an extortion racket imposed by armed groups that they warn could deepen the country’s looming food crisis amid rising insecurity.

The practice, which involves bandits demanding fixed payments from farmers to access their fields or harvest crops, has persisted despite repeated military operations and government pledges.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP, the president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Alhaji Farouk Mudi,  called on the federal government to urgently halt what it described as an illegal “farming tax” imposed on farmers by suspected bandits in Kano and Katsina States, warning that the development could worsen food insecurity and unemployment across the country.

The  AFAN president, condemned the levies, noting that they posed a serious threat to national food production and rural livelihoods.

Mudi, who spoke through AFAN’s national public relations officer II, Ademola Oyetunji, said farmers in the affected communities were being forced to choose between paying the illegal levy or abandoning their farms entirely.

Recall that suspected bandits recently imposed a compulsory levy of N50,000 on more than 1,200 farmers across communities in Kano and Katsina States.

Describing the development as an affront to national security, the AFAN president said affected communities have reported that bandits now operate as de facto authorities in rural areas.

“Affected communities say bandits now operate as de facto authorities, issuing deadlines and sending emissaries to collect the money. Many farmers, already struggling with rising costs of farm inputs and poor access to credit, are forced to choose between paying the levy or abandoning their farms altogether,” he said.

Mudi further warned that the perceived inaction or “feigned ignorance” of authorities could erode public confidence in governance.

“The gradual replacement of democratic authority by criminal elements is weakening public trust in both state and federal governments. By collecting taxes, bandits are entrenching criminal authority and normalising parallel governance structures in rural areas,” he added.

AFAN also described the situation as another clear indication of the failure of relevant authorities to effectively address insecurity, stressing that the activities of bandits are deepening poverty by denying farmers their primary means of livelihood.

According to the association, unless urgent action is taken to restore security and dismantle criminal taxation systems, the country risks a further decline in agricultural output, with grave implications for food availability and prices nationwide.