Full and part-time farmers are facing difficult times in parts of Adamawa State where

thieves are entering farms and harvesting crops.

Crop stealing began to thrive in Adamawa State in the wake of the current food inflation

which motivated more residents into farming and which in turn appears to have given

crime-minded people the idea to help themselves to the many cropped lands around them.

A lady, Mrs Margret Hosea, who took to farming to get something to eat and to raise money

to augment her meagre pay as a private school teacher, told Newsmen on Monday that she

found herself lamenting a huge and painful loss. Mrs Hosea who nursed her farm located

along the Yola-Fufore road in Yola South Local Government Area, added, “They removed

everything! And I spent so much money and time to bring that farm to harvest stage.”

Another farmer, Bashir Abdul who owns a farm around Jabi Lamba in Girei LGA, affirmed

that stealing from farms has become rampant. On his part, another farmer, Danjuma Gurin,

who cultivated lands in the Fufore LGA, said he was well aware of the menace but that he

had been spared chiefly because he works in lands around lived-in places within the towns

of Gurin and Fufore.

Elsewhere in the state, some desperate thieves have been noticed to steal crops before

they mature. A source indicated that this thrives in Wauru Jabbe, a community on the

outskirts of Yola North towards the borderline with Yola South LGA. In the area, the source

said, farming now involves a nightly vigil as farmers spend the nights in their farm fields to

keep thieves away.