A bloat of hippos went on the rampage on Tuesday night, invaded and destroyed large farmlands in Hinna Community in the Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State.
The affected farmers narrated their ordeal in separate interviews on Thursday, saying that the animals entered their farms and destroyed their crops, most of which were reportedly due for harvesting.
They described the incident as a serious threat to food security and their livelihoods.
The head of farmers in the community, Zakari Ladan, described the persistent bestial attacks without government’s help as “frustrating.”
Mr Ladan regretted that many of his members were losing their investments on a daily basis.
He said that more than 17 farmlands, totalling about 14 hectares, with different crops, including maize, rice, tomato, pepper, water and sweet melon, carrot, and okro, amongst others, were destroyed.
He put the value of their loss at almost N7 million, saying that most of the destroyed crops were due for harvest in a couple of days.
He stated, “We are tired of these hippos, coming out of the river to invade our farms, located as far as two kilometres away. The attack has become a trend and for years we have suffered without government’s help whatsoever.
“You can imagine losing 14 hectares of crops in one night, that’s to tell you the large population of the hippos in our community and the negative impact on food security. We need urgent assistance because many farmers were affected and farming is their only means of livelihood.”
A maize farmer, Mohammed Zengina, whose farmland was also attacked, said he lost over one-and-a-half hectares of maize and other vegetables to the hippos in one night.
Mr Zengina said he lost nearly N800, 000 to the attack, adding that his crops would have been due for harvesting in two weeks’ time.
He appealed to the state government to come to his aid, saying that he couldn’t continue with farming without support because he had yet to recover from similar attacks in the past.
A cluster head of rice farmers in the community, Bello Mohammed, said that his group pooled N150,000, which they pay hunters monthly to guard their 20-hectare rice farms.
Mr Mohammed regretted that despite the security arrangement, the dangerous beasts still invaded their farmlands.
Other farmers also shared similar tales of how the hippos invaded their farmlands and destroyed their crops.
Contacted, the Gombe State Commissioner of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives, Dr Barnabas Malle, said that the sate government was aware of the attack.
Mr Malle said that an official from the ministry had gone to assess the level of destruction and report back for proper action.
He said that a comprehensive report would be submitted to Governor Inuwa Yahaya for consideration.
He urged the affected farmers to be patient, saying that the state government was looking into the matter and would come to their aid.
Mr Malle said, “We will analyse the report and see the extent of the destruction and decide if it is for compensation or the one we can refer to the State Emergency Management Agency.”
(NAN)
