A group known as the Enugu State Graduate Farmers (ESGF) has expressed dismay over the destruction of their 35,000 hectares of rice farm by herdsmen.
The farmland is at the Ojoloko Farm Site at Umuiba, Nara, in Nkanu East Local Government Area.
Some farmers in Enugu said on Tuesday that cattle destroyed all their investments in the farmland. They complained that the bank that lent them money was now after them for repayment.
ESGF president, Patrick Mba, noted that the herdsmen would go to the farm at every harvest, eat up their rice, and set others on fire.
According to him, ESGF has lost billions of naira and up till now, the bank that gave them loan has been chasing some of them around because they owe.
He said: “We are those farmers trained by the Enugu State government during the tenure of former Governor Sullivan Chime. We started farming at Adani in Uzo-Uwani LGA, but when the farm was handed over to another company, we relocated to Nara, where we presently have over 50,000 hectares of land.
“We cultivated 35,000 hectares of rice, both certified seed and paddy rice, since 2020, and in 2021, we borrowed money and did the farming, but when we were about to harvest, cows ate 80 per cent of the rice.” (Vanguard)
