The Ibarapaland Farmers Association, says there is robust synergy among state actors and the farmers to end insecurity in Ibarapa area.
Mr Taiwo Adeagbo, the Secretary of the association, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Tuesday.
He said “I am happy that the state government and the police are proactive to end insecurity in our region. We are happy with the swift responses we have gotten from the government and police in the state.
“They are a call away as they respond to our call any time of the day when there are security challenges.
“We called the Commissioner of Police on the 15th of March when some villages were ravaged by bandits in Ayete. There was a serious devastation of property of our people and their farmlands.
“We went to the villages on Monday to take pictures of the destruction caused by bandits in company with the officers of the State Police Command, Mobile Police, Amotekun Security network and the farmers.
“We saw that six villages have been deserted by people including farmlands; the villages are: Baba pupa, Paanu, Konko, Dagbere, Afunije and Kajola, but the government is doing everything to restore lasting peace to the region.”
According to Adeagbo, farmers are one group of people that need security the most because of the nature of their job.
“Most often, we farmers sleep on the farm to ensure food production processes are done efficiently for good yield.
“Sometimes harvesting is done early in the morning before day break and some times, it lasts till evening and late night time.
“These farmers are in need of protection because of the changing times and challenges of insecurity in the country.
“The farmers in the recent past are vulnerable to bandits, kidnapping, killers and rapists,” Adeagbo said.
He stated that though the problem in the region was self inflicted and age long, but all hands were on deck to ensure that peace reigns in the region.
Adeagbo further said “we are ensuring that nobody is peddling rumours that can lead to breakdown of law and order in Ibarapa land.
“Some days ago, some people started a rumour that some set of people with black turbans are Boko Haram members.
“We were swift to stop the rumour before it wreaked havoc and lead to breakdown of law and order.
“We the farmers in conjunction with the Police Command in the state and Amotekun security network rose to the occasion and found the rumours to be baseless.
“What is happening now is that the bandits living in the forest have relocated to the boundary of Oyo and Ogun states to a town called Oyan.
“The bandits tactics now is to attack the farmers at night using cows to devastate farmlands in the region.
“Another challenge is our porous border. We share boundary with Benin Republic and so arms and ammunition are smuggled into Nigeria with ease due to the vast forest that covers the border area,” he said.
Also, Dr Debo Akande, the Executive Adviser to the governor of Oyo State on Agribusiness, said that the government was working round the clock to address the issue of insecurity.
He said “It is a concern that people that are working so hard to ensure that we are all fed are now having issues in getting engaged in an activity that they should do without fear in any circumstances.
“However, as a state, we don’t do fire brigade approach in as much as we see that the citizens of the state are quite valuable and important to us.
“So we are following two approaches, one we call tactical approach and the other is a strategic approach to ensure security of farmers’’.