HERDSMEN ENCOUNTER
Hey fam, it’s really been a long time. I’ve not written anything here in over a month now and I am really sorry about that. In between long hours of work (and the stress associated with it), a faulty phone, and power supply issues, I’ve not been able to find the emotional strength to write.

I am trying to resolve these issues but in the meantime, I promise to give us something to read at least once a week until I am able to find the right balance. Thank you for understanding �.

You remember I wrote about the stress of harvesting cassava from my family farm a few months ago, you can read the story here.

https://www.lowermiddleclasslife.com/2020/05/farm-work-amateur-farmers.html Today I’ll be giving you a rather painful update on our farming activities this year.

Farm land at the base of a mountain range
One of the reasons I love coming to this particular farm is the beautiful scenery.
After we harvested the cassava, dad hired someone to help us till the ground for the next set of crops. We also acquired a larger plot in a close-by rural community for the planting season. My parents are teachers as you know and farming provided a much escape from the idleness that came with the lockdown.

Once the soil was tilled, my parents and siblings visited the farms (we now had farms at three different locations) three to four times weekly over the following month for planting and weeding. We planted yam, groundnut, melon, watermelon, maize, soybeans, and bambara nut. I couldn’t go with them most of the time because I resumed work fully when the lockdown was lifted in June.

The plants began to grow and we were really excited but our excitement was dampened when we went to our yam farm for fertilizer application and discovered that the yam tendrils growing on the outer ridges of the farm had been eaten up by grazing cows of nomadic herdsmen. My parents in their good-naturedness decided to assume it was a grazing accident since it was only those on the outer ridges that were eaten up.

We consulted with the local farmers after the days’ work and they told us it was no accident, that they suffered the same from the herdsmen every planting season. They advised that we poison the remaining tendrils with sniper that would kill intruding cattle. We thanked them but quickly threw the advice out the window because we felt it was too extreme.

Weed choked farm
What used to be our yam is now completely covered by weeds because the yam tendrils were eaten up by cattle before they had the chance to really grow.
A few weeks later when we came back to the same farm for weeding, we met a very heart-breaking scene. More than half of the farm had been eaten up by the grazing cattle under the watch of their herdsmen and the ridges had been completely flattened by the stumping of the cattle. The yam farm was our largest farm and we had invested thousands of naira into it with the hope of harvesting enough yam to last us at least a year. My both parents were speechless, we didn’t do any work that day, we just quietly climbed back into the car and headed home.

We gave up on the yam farm and decided to focus our efforts on the other two farms where we planted the other crops. Both farms were not cultivated at the same time so while we were already harvesting corn cobs from the first one, the maize plants in the second one were just starting to flower. While the second farm was being cultivated, we had kept driving away grazing cattle that “strayed” into the farm while their herdsmen (or boys, because they were actually small boys) watched saying nothing. My parents felt that since the farm was located in a residential area, the cattle won’t be able to do much damage. It turned we were VERY WRONG.

Two Fridays ago, my dad visited the farm in the evening and came back home with the report that the maize stalks at the edge of the farm had been eaten down to the roots by cattle. On our way back from church the following Sunday, we stopped by the farm to see the extent of the damage but alas not one maize stalk was left standing. The herdsmen and their cattle had visited the next day and finished up what was left of the maize leaving only the Bambara nuts and soybeans that were just sprouting. Though this farm was our smallest, it was far more fertile than the other and we really looked forward to a rich harvest of maize.

I saw the pain on my father’s face, it was deeper than any I had seen before. Time, effort, and money poured down the drain because of the wickedness of fellow humans. Sometimes I wonder if they are actually humans because they do not act like beings with a conscience.

Now I can better understand the pain of the Benue people, I just wonder why the government seems to have endorsed this wickedness. When a cow is killed government intervenes but when peoples’ livelihood is eaten up by cattle, the government is silent. If this can happen in Abuja then nowhere is safe.

Please leave a comment and don’t forget to share. And if you’ve had a similar experience please feel free to share your story with us in the comment section or send a mail.
https://www.lowermiddleclasslife.com/2020/09/hey-fam-its-really-been-long-time.html

you can read my other Works
https://www.lowermiddleclasslife.com/
follow us on facebook@https://www.facebook.com/Lower-Middle-Class-Life-111111083934377/