Suspected bandits burn down 20 farms, demand N30m levy in Niger

Over 20 maize, soya bean and guinea corn farms on the outskirts of Kontagora, headquarters of Kontagora Local Government Area of Niger State, has been burnt down by suspected bandits.

A source explained that the bandits dropped notes asking them to pay a N30 million levy each or face further attacks.

He said those who contacted the stated number were told their produce had been burnt and threatened to deal with them if they failed to pay the levy.

He appealed to the federal and state governments to address the incessant attacks on farmers to restore normalcy for farmers to go about their normal businesses.

He said they just woke up to the sad incident, saying they went to their farms where they assembled their crops due for harvesting only for the crops to be set ablaze.

He lamented, “And notices in Arabic with a phone number were hung in our respective farms asking us to pay N30m levy each.”

He lamented that a farm which could yield about 50 bags of maize and another of about 60 bags of soybean were burnt down.

He said his farm had beans and Guinea corn ready for harvesting before it was burnt down.

There has been no response from security operatives on the incident as the state police spokesman could not be reached for comments.