Vanguard
By Peter Duru, Makurdi
THEY are daring and ruthless. That’s the best way to describe the criminal elements who early in the week razed a thriving mechanised mango farm in Howe community in Gwer Local Government Area of Benue State, which belongs to a former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a lover of agriculture and foremost promoter of food production in the country.
The hoodlums ran amok and set ablaze the mango farm, which had huge potential for the state, its natives and other Nigerians as far as food security is concerned. Arewa Voice gathered that aside availing the locals of the opportunity of benefiting and owning improved variety of the money-spinning mango species, the people were also benefiting from the expertise of the personnel managing the farm. Besides, the presence of the about three-year-old plantation which sits on a 2,000-hectare arable land, had positively impacted the lives of the people of the area as it provided business opportunities to food vendors, mostly women and youths who were engaged in many aspects of the mango farm operations.
Although there seemed to have been some disagreement over issues of compensation over the land which was initially government-owned, the potential benefits far outweigh such selfish consideration, according to some of the natives, who confided in Arewa Voice. Already, at the inception of the farm project, the former president had promised to employ no fewer than 1000 natives of Benue State when the farm begins full production, a promise now threatened with the unexpected burning of the flourishing mango farm.
