Farmers in Cross River State have attributed high cost of foodstuff to the invasion of farm lands by Fulani herdsmen and cattle.
Foodstuff such as garri, yam, rice are stable food in the state.
A cup of garri goes for one hundred naira (N100) in the state as against five cups, a tuber of yam is now N500 as against N200/N300, while rice is N100 as against N70/N80.
Also affected are prices of okro, palm oil, vegetables, fruits, grains, cocoa yam, cassava, coconut and others.
The prices had gone up to over 200%.
Farmers in northern part of the state (Ogoja, Obudu, Obanliku, Boki, Etung communities have lamented the sudden increase, which they blamed on herdsmen invasion.
Madam Philomena Eteng lamented that, “As a woman, you can no longer go to the farm alone, owing to the fact that these deadly men with their barbaric act will either rape you, collect your belongings or kill you if you try to resist their advances.
“We can’t believe it, these same herdsmen were like guardian angels in our farms until 2015.
“Before now, when you go to the farm alone, you’re sure of a company from the Fulani men. Most times, they’ll bring us their Nunu or Fura in exchange for yams or cassava, but today we are being secluded from our own farms.
“If you go to the farms today, the cassava we planted are now eaten up by cattle.”
She further said “We are calling on the government to come and intervene, else the next season will be worst. We are peaceful people, we don’t like shedding blood. We don’t want what is happening in Benue, Enugu and other areas to happen to us.
“We beg Governor Ben Ayade to come to our rescue. Farming is what we depend upon to train our children in schools.”
Meanwhile, another big farmer, Mr Peter Agboje alleged that the herdsmen even threatened to invade their traditional occasions as they did last year during the celebration of the Ogoja/Bakor New Yam Festival.
He urged the government and other concerned parties, including the police and the military to look into the situation so that they can live their normal lives again.
“Our wives can no longer go to the farm alone, including our children because they’re afraid of being molested, raped by these miscreants.
“Our farmlands are fading away and becoming difficult to till due to the hardened nature caused by the hoofs of their cows.
“Some of our farms across the shores of the rivers and those with long distances have been abandoned.”
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