Farmers at Ebonyi State University, EBSU, farm, in Abakaliki, have lamented that the herders grazing over two hundred cows stormed their farmlands and destroyed their vegetable and crop farms. Speaking to newsmen, they recounted how these herders have incessantly destroyed their farmlands rendering their crop yield useless.
A widow, Ibi Eunice, narrated that her family faced starvation throughout the previous year as the farmland was her major source of livelihood, urging Ebonyi State government to call the herders to order. “I have tried hard even at my age to make sure that my family did not rely on the government to feed our children,” lamenting that activities of the herders have stood in the way of progress in this regard. She, therefore, said that in order to assuage the feeling of frustra, “We are appealing that the Ebonyi State government should do something before we take the law into our hands.”
Elizabeth Nwachukwu, cried that her crop and vegetable farms were destroyed beyond recognition last year. She appealed to the State Government to ban grazing of cows at EBSU Agric farm. “Herders stormed my farm that has pumpkin, ugwu, green, cassava, yam and other crops and destroyed them beyond recognition. “I am a widow and over seventy years old, yet I farm every year; that’s the only way to earn a livelihood. Surprisingly, the herders purposely sent their cows to destroy our farms to a point that we were invited by some persons who ended up consoling us without a dime to ameliorate our plights,” Nwachukwu added.