Why We Embraced Rice Farming In Ogun – Northern Youths

Hundreds of northern youths who fled the region as a result of violence and displacement occasioned by insecurity have explained why they embraced massive farming in the largest rice farm in the South West region in Ogun State.

The youths who initially engaged in commercial motorcycle operation, popularly known as “Okada”, said they would not return to the business since they have been engaged in mechanised rice farming in Ogun State.

The Arewa youths, who formed about 70 per cent of the total workforce of about 3, 000 that included the Yoruba and other ethnic nationalities in the over 10,000 hectares of the rice farms, located in the Magboro axis of Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State, stated that their new jobs have been the needed safe haven that provided succour and support for their livelihoods since their business endeavours were disrupted by the yet-to-abate insecurity ravaging the northern region.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP at the farm operated by a Kebbi State-born former farming equipment contractor, Alhaji Bello Besse of Bezan Farms, one of the Arewa youths, Sanusi Lamido, disclosed that his newfound job has afforded him the opportunity to escape the hazards which he daily faced as a commercial motorcycle operator.
Sanusi, who spoke in Hausa, explained that he relocated from Kebbi State after bandit attacks there prevented him from continuing his farming business.

Sanusi said he had been riding a commercial motorcycle in Lagos State prior to being introduced to the rice farm in Magboro, where he said he now works with peace and fulfilment, having escaped the daily harassment from the Lagos and Ogun States’ garage touts that often forcefully demanded the daily ticketing fee in an unfriendly manner.

Sanusi, who lamented the daily poor income from the “okada” riding business, however, explained that management of the expansive rice plantations has rescued him from the chaotic street traffic of Lagos and Ogun States, as the plantation now provides for all his needs, including medication and housing, among other welfare issues.

Sanusi’s position was corroborated by other Arewa youths working in the farm, which included a former Bureau de Change operator, Isa Liman; a Katsina State-born “okada” rider, Usman Yusuf; Usman Idris from Maiduguri in Borno State, as well as one Abubakar Ladan Zauro, who until joining the race plantation in Ogun State, was a rice farmer in Kebbi State, but was forced to relocate to Ogun State after escaping the banditry attacks in his state.

In his narration, Ladan Zauro explained that after the outbreak of banditry attacks in Kebbi State, he decided to migrate to Ogun State, as he was familiar with the popular Ofada Rice grown by local farmers there.

“I have been a rice grower in Kebbi State, but when the banditry attacks became unbearable, I relocated to Ogun State where I was farming rice before Alhaji Bello Besse came to commence the BEZAN Agric-business in Magboro here, and he employed me as one of the Farm Managers”.

“Aside from the banditry attacks, the other factor that motivated me to come to Ogun State was that I discovered that land is available here in Ogun State in abundance for the rainy season rice farming, unlike in Kebbi State where land is limited in supply because it had been partitioned among us, the many rice farmers”.

“I have been a rice farmer for the past 23 years before I left Kebbi State. Again, here in Ogun, there is no security challenge; at least for the past 7 years, I’ve been growing rice in the South West. Given that, I am assured that Ogun State can favourably compete with Kebbi State if the State Government is willing to give us the opportunity and support.

Also speaking with LEADERSHIP, the duo of another Kebbi State-born Mohammed Suraju Dan-Bala, who is one of the Farm Managers, and Dan Alamutu, a former auto dealer in Kano State, also attributed reasons for their relocations to Ogun State for rice farming to a more profitable business, escape from banditry attacks, as well as the need to seek greener pastures.

Against the backdrop of revelations about these former Arewa youths’ commercial motorcyclists, the Managing Director of the rice plantation, Alhaji Bello, has also reiterated his farm’s readiness not to renege on efforts to pull the identified Arewa youths off the streets and into more profitable agribusiness ventures.

Bello, who spoke with LEADERSHIP at the rice plantation in the Gasline Area of Magboro, explained that he was a rice farmer and agro-allied supplier of water pumping machines to rice farms for the dry-season planting before the advent of insecurity across the northern parts of the country, before choosing to settle down for business in Ogun State.

“When the problem of insecurity started in the north, and every rice farmer and other business owners started running away because they were being attacked almost on a daily basis, then I decided to relocate elsewhere”.

“So, when I went to Ogun State here, I saw the land which was a resemblance of what I was familiar with up North, but lying fallow, then I said, let me try my luck”.

“The first year. I started; I suffered seriously, particularly on how to control the birds and even in the second year, I still couldn’t cultivate up to 500 hectares, but subsequently, I overcame and was able to cultivate up to 2,000 hectares, until I was able to achieve the 10, 000 hectares we are talking about today”.

Bello disclosed that as at today, the rice plantation has up to a minimum of 50 Farm Managers, with each of them controlling and supervising between 50 and 100 workers, a mixture of the identified Hausa youths that were formerly into commercial motorcycling, as well as the Yoruba-speaking indigenes sourced from the over 21 communities where the family is situated in the Ifo and Obafemi- Owode Local Government Areas of the state.

Bello further disclosed that the welfare packages provided by the farmers, among other things, may have helped explain why a substantial number of those captured Arewa Youths are abandoning “okada” riding, which exposes them to accidents and frequent community clashes.