Borno faces famine from threat to farmers - Zulum

Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum on Wednesday, June 23, stated that famine is at hand in the state unless its farmers can return to their farms.

The governor told BBC Hausa Service that it has become a bad situation as thousands of refugees who have returned to their towns have no food and cannot cultivate their farmland.

“No insecurity is worse than food insecurity. Without food to eat terrible things can happen. We have reached a situation that if people are not allowed to farm they can kill themselves and eat.

“Borno is now experiencing food insecurity. We cannot wait for things to get perfect for people to go to the farm, we need to be resilient to Boko Haram attacks. We cannot accept a situation where five or 10 gunmen can dislodge a town with over ten thousand dwellers.

"People cannot be allowed to die of hunger and our children not going to school, that cannot happen,” Mr Zulum said.

According to Zulum, the NGOs giving support have done their best but are no longer providing food assistance because they are overwhelmed.

He concluded that people have to return to their communities to farm and transact businesses.