Military Increases Patrols to Protect Farmers During Planting Season

As Nigeria approaches the 2026 farming season, the Defence Headquarters has pledged to strengthen security across vulnerable agricultural communities, following a wave of deadly attacks on farmers in 2025.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Michael Onoja, disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, assuring that the military would ramp up patrols and presence in flashpoints to enable farmers carry out their activities without fear.

“We will continue to intensify patrols and military presence in areas vulnerable to attacks to ensure that farmers are able to carry out their activities.

“We understand the implications of not allowing the agricultural season to go as planned. It will hamper food security, and the armed forces are determined to prevent that.

“We are committed to our role to provide assistance to the Nigeria Police to secure the farmers,” Onoja said.

Also, in an interview with The PUNCH, the spokesman for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Afolabi Babawale, said no fewer than 11,000 Agro-Rangers operatives had been deployed nationwide to bolster farmers’ protection.

Babawale stated that the corps plays a pivotal role in safeguarding farmers and agro-allied investments, noting that it maintains an existing partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to secure agricultural assets and mediate disputes.

He said, “The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps plays a pivotal role in ensuring farmers’ protection.

“The Corps has an existing relationship with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in ensuring the protection of agro-allied industries, settling disputes between farmers and herders, campaigning against the destruction of farm crops, indiscriminate grazing, or cattle rustling.

“The security of farmers is our topmost priority; this culminates in training and retraining of Special Agro-Rangers operatives numbering over 11,000 across the federation.

“We enjoin the public to continue to give us relevant information that would assist our work, and most of all, the ravaged areas need more proactivity in terms of intelligence gathering to forestall negative attacks and mishaps.”

Babawale further disclosed that the Commandant-General of the Corps, Prof Ahmed Abubakar Audi, had reaffirmed the agency’s readiness to deploy specially trained personnel to areas in need.

“The corps is not relenting on putting all hands on deck to enhance food security in the nation.

“The Commandant-General, Prof Ahmed Abubakar Audi, during the last retraining programme for the Agro-Rangers operatives in Plateau State, affirmed the NSCDC’s readiness to deploy the specially trained officers and men to needed areas for adequate safety of farmers and by extension combating food insecurity,” he added.

The remarks come against the backdrop of several violent incidents that marred the 2025 farming and harvest seasons across parts of the country.

On January 12 and 13, 2025, at least 40 farmers were reportedly killed by fighters linked to ISWAP and Boko Haram in Dumba near Lake Chad while working on their farms.

On October 1, bandits kidnapped three persons at Bethel Farm in Ejiba, Kogi State.

In November, attacks intensified in multiple states.

On November 2, a farmer was killed in Kubon village, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Between November 3 and 4, no fewer than 10 farmers, including a pastor, were killed while working on their fields in Ohimini, Benue State.

On November 20, four rice farmers were abducted while harvesting in Bokungi, Kwara State.

Three days later, 13 female farmers aged between 15 and 20 were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State.

On November 26, at least 10 farmers were abducted in Shiroro, Niger State, while harvesting rice.

In early December, 20 onion farmers were abducted in Konduga, Borno State, days after eight others were taken from the same area.

The recurring attacks have raised concerns about food production and rural safety, with stakeholders warning that continued insecurity could worsen food shortages and inflation.

Group urges ranching

The Youths Against Disaster Initiative, at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, called for comprehensive ranching reform as a long-term solution to farmer-herder conflicts and agricultural insecurity.

The group cited data from the Centre for Crisis Communication referencing the Nigerian Security Tracker, which indicated that about 3,000 people were killed in farmer-herder clashes between 2018 and 2023 across North-Central states, with over 300,000 displaced.

It also referenced the 2024 Nigeria Watch Report, which documented 567 deaths linked to farmer-herder violence across 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory within one year.

While security agencies focus on immediate protection measures for the upcoming farming cycle, advocacy groups maintain that structural reforms in the livestock sector and improved land management systems are critical to achieving lasting peace and food security.

For now, the military says it remains determined to prevent a repeat of the 2025 tragedies and ensure that farmers can return to their fields under enhanced security cover.