Insecurity Is Driving Farmers From Fields and Deepening Food Risks, Sote Argues
Columnist Lekan Sote links Nigeria's food challenges to insecurity in farming communities, citing banditry, kidnappings, farmer-herder clashes and unsafe transport routes as pressures on agricultural production. He argues that protecting rural areas is essential to improving food supply and reducing reliance on imports.
Nigeria's struggle with food production cannot be separated from the insecurity affecting farming communities, according to columnist Lekan Sote, who argues that violence in rural areas is pushing farmers away from their land and disrupting agricultural trade.
Sote points to banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and farmer-herder clashes as major obstacles to farming, particularly in parts of northern Nigeria. He also notes that insecurity on roads affects the movement of crops from producing communities to markets.
Security analyst Abdulaziz Mala, cited in the column, said instability affects several parts of food security, including whether food is available, accessible and consistently supplied. He also linked kidnapping and banditry in northern areas to disruption along important agricultural trading routes.
The column cites Nigeria Health Watch as estimating that about 14,000 incidents of armed violence occurred in rural areas between 2018 and 2024. It also refers to a Food and Agriculture Organisation assessment indicating that about 31 million Nigerians faced food and nutrition insecurity during the 2025 lean season.
Sote also highlights the North-Central region, where farmer-herder violence has affected agricultural activity. Citing Mala, he says a large proportion of farmers in affected areas have abandoned their farms because of fear of attacks.
The article connects the security problem with Nigeria's wider dependence on imported food. It cites Central Bank of Nigeria figures showing that food imports were valued at N7.6 trillion in 2025, accounting for 11.8 per cent of total imports that year.
Sote argues that stronger domestic food production could ease pressure on foreign exchange by reducing the need for imported agricultural products. He contrasts today's agricultural sector with the much larger role farming played in Nigeria's economy around independence, while noting that the sector remains important to employment and national output.
Among the measures he proposes are stronger protection for farming communities, expansion of forest guard operations and progress on proposals for state police. He also calls for faster security responses in rural areas where farmers face attacks.
The central argument of the column is that efforts to increase agricultural output will remain difficult without safer farms, roads and rural communities. Sote maintains that improving security around food-producing areas should form part of any broader strategy to strengthen domestic agriculture and food availability.