From Salisu Zakari Maradun, Gusau
Farmers in Zamfara have continued to be jubilant following the opportunity they had to farm this year without any hindrance from the bandits.
Unlike last year, the farmers, particularly the peasant ones, had found it difficult to not even farm, but to go near their lands as the bandit invaded them all to the extent that one could not even claim its ownership.
This, according to the investigation by The AUTHORITY in the state, had to do with quick intervention by the governor of the state, Alhaji Bello Matawallen Maradun, between the government and the bandits that farmers across the state are allowed to farm.
The intervention which followed an agreement between the government and some elders of the bandits resulted in good harvests , as it made it possible for the farmers to rush to their farmlands for cultivation against the rainy season of the year.
From the initial stage of the year, fears were exercised by the farmers on whether they could farm or not, as has been obtaining during the previous years when one could only be allowed to farm after paying a certain amount of money to the bandits, failure of which one could easily loose his life should he make any attempt to visit his farm without paying the amount labelled on him.
The investigation also revealed that the government of the State vowed not to allow the calamity to repeat itself, as it resolved to form different committees shouldered with responsibility of ensuring that the earlier agreement entered into between it and the bandits was not breached.
As the government succeeded in bringing the peace, the farmers swang into action by going to their farms day and night without any fear, which made it possible for the farmers in the State to produce enough food in a large quantity.
As it is now, sellers and buyers of farm products could be seen freely transacting their businesses across the State, while burning and destroying of food items has become a thing of the past.
A lot of commendations were said to the government for the efforts it made toward ensuring that farming was made possible in the State.
Some of the farmers who spoke to our reporter in the State expressed their gladness over the efforts, describing it as the most commendable one in the history of the present administration.
