Wal-Wanne Nigeria Limited, an agricultural company, has alleged that 2,000 cows and armed herdsmen destroyed 750 hectares of its rice plantation in Dubale village Lau Council, Taraba State.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Muhammed Musa, the farm coordinator, said the herdsmen and their cows occupied the plantation at the time the harvest was about to commence.
Musa appealed to security operatives to assist in arresting the perpetrators.
He also called on government to compensate the company and other affected farmers in the area in order to keep the hope of ensuring food security alive.
“As a company, we have been farming rice in many states of the federation, but we have never witnessed destruction of this magnitude. I am so surprised at the manner in which armed herdsmen move about destroying farms in the state,” he said.
The Dubale farm supervisor, Mustapha Mohammed, lamented that their dreams of ranking among the highest rice producing companies in the country had been thwarted by the activities of the herdsmen.
Speaking on the incident, the North-East Zonal Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Mafindi Danburam, said he was aware of the sad incident and had directed the farmers to ensure the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.
He said: “The farmers have drawn my attention to what happened and whose rice farm was invaded. I have told them to try and identify the herders for arrest, because that is the only way we can bring them to book.”
