Food Prices Rise Amid Increasing Banditry In Taraba

Prices of food stuff in Taraba State have continued to skyrocket following increasing banditry attacks on farmers in various communities of the state.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the prices of various food stuff which in the past years use to remain stable during harvest time have rather increased by over 100 percent.

It was further gathered that the rise of prices of food in the state was not unconnected to the attacks by bandits on the local farmers through kidnapping, killings and forceful taking away of farm products from innocent villagers resulting in food shortages and subsequent price hike.

Market survey at Jalingo main market, Garba-Chede, Mutum-Biu, Zing and Lau markets revealed that a 100kg of maize is now sold at N35,000 as against N15,000.

Similarly, a 100kg of paddy now sells at N25,000 instead of N13,000 while a bag of rice is sold at N32,000 instead of N15,000 during harvest time.

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Those who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday during the survey lamented that bandits have taken over their communities which is making it impossible for the farmers to harvest their farm produce.

A farmer from Kwambai community in Ussa local government area, Mr Liman Tansen told our correspondent that his 17 hectares of rice farm has been destroyed by the bandits who he alleged are Fulani herders.

“They have taken over our farm land; graze there freely with weapons, invade our villages at will and sometimes kill people. Sometimes they kidnap people and demand ransom. They also rape our women and young girls whenever they find them in the farm.

“The situation has forced all the farmers out of their communities where nobody is able to go back to harvest their crops planted during the rainy season,” Tansen stated.

Also narrating her ordeal in the hands of bandits, a 43-year-old woman from Gazabo village in Bali LGA, Mrs Becky Apine said herself and seven of her family members were kidnapped in the village, a situation that forced her to abandon her maize farm to relocate to Jalingo, the state capital, for safety.