For eight years, Temitolu Akinniyi (pseudonym) has diligently cultivated his 25-acre cassava farm in Ilora, Oyo State. However, his efforts have been consistently undermined by herdsmen just a few months before harvest.

Akinniyi’s story is not an isolated case. An X post from Bashorun Ga, another farmer, shared how a 20-acre cassava farm was destroyed by roaming cows led by herdsmen.

Bashorun Ga shared the video describing the damage that was done to his farm on Tuesday. He said the herdsmen damaged everything on the large farm and they would have ruined the maize if it had not been harvested.

He said the culprits were Fulani herders.

READ ALSO: In 2 Nights, ‘Fulani Herders’ Kill 30 People in Plateau Villages

“I got to the farm today, look at the menace. Look at what the Fulani herdsmen are doing, they pulled down the fence. You can see the pathway. They entered through this place overnight. This is about 20 acres of cassava, and they finished it. Look at it. There is growing cassava here — they finished it. They ate everything and finished it overnight. It was there two or three days ago. The maize has been harvested, and they finished it. The whole field,” the farmer complained.

Since Bashorun shared this post, many Nigerians have also shared their horrible pre-harvest losses caused by roaming cows.

BURNT TRACTOR, BURNT HARVEST

Akinniyi told FIJ that he first encountered the herdsmen on February 7, 2024. That morning, he arrived at his farm to find it burnt to the ground.

“This was a farm fully fenced with 12 coaches of 9-inch sand-concrete blocks. We believed it was enough security,” he said.

Before this attack on his crops, Akinniyi and his team had been collecting naturally growing grass and baling it into hay for sale.

When the herdsmen struck, they burnt everything.

“We were dumbfounded at this incident but were grateful that the pen houses where the chickens were kept didn’t catch fire,” Akinniyi told FIJ.

“Since most of the land was owned by my dad, he insisted that he didn’t want any issues by reporting the incident. As for the night guard who was supposed to be on duty, he didn’t come to work on the said day and claimed he didn’t know what happened until we called him in the morning.

“Losses were in the millions, as a whole tractor with several other implements was fully burnt down.”

THE HERDSMEN RETURNED

This cassava farmer told FIJ that after that first incident, he decided to plough the land to prevent the grass from re-growing. Seven months later, the herdsmen returned.

He said they jerked open the padlocks and attacked the farm.

“After this incident, we decided to plant on the land to avoid the grass from growing again, and we ploughed the land twice, but we couldn’t cover everything because of financial constraints,” Akinniyi said.

“Tragedy struck again on September 22, 2024, when I got to the farm after Sunday Service to meet the padlocks to both the small and large gates jerked and cattle footprints and faeces all over the farm.

“I informed my dad and called the security guard, who insisted it must have happened in the morning after he left.”

He said they changed the padlocks but the men, whom he described as Fulani/Bororo, returned two days later. This time, they were arrested and locked up inside the farm.

However, they broke a portion of the fence from where they were locked up and escaped.

“We changed the padlocks, but they came back two days later and jerked the padlocks again. This time, the security was around, and he locked them up inside the farm,” Akinniyi narrated.

“On noticing they were locked in, they broke down a portion of the fence from behind and ran off before we could get there by 2 am with the local vigilantes.

“They are Fulani/Bororo herdsmen, from their language and mode of operation.”

He said they came with their cows and escaped with all of them. But they still left damage in their wake.

“We had to plough the uncovered land again, but it was already getting late to plant because the rains were rounding off. We got cassava stems and started planting,” Akinniyi added.

“But we couldn’t finish planting before the weather became too harsh to continue.

READ ALSO: Akeredolu to Miyetti Allah: If Killer Herdsmen are not Your Members, Stop Defending Them

ONE YEAR LATER, ANOTHER ATTACK

Akinniyi said the herdsmen returned exactly one year after their farm was set on fire.

On their 2025 return, they spared the cassava and only ate the grass.

“This was on February 7. They entered by breaking a portion of the fence. But this time around, they left the cassava and ate only the grass where we couldn’t plant,” he said.

“However, we have reported this time around to Amotekun, as local intel tells us that they are more afraid of them than the police.

“We have been advised not to rebuild yet, as they will most likely come back, and they may just be able to apprehend them. That’s the situation now.”

Akinniyi also told FIJ that the herders may be waiting for the cassava to mature before returning to destroy them.

When FIJ asked if it was the same group of herders, he said, “We are unsure, but my gut feeling is that they are the same people.”

Akinniyi said they spent about N5 million trying to recover the damage caused by these herders.

“We spent nothing less than N5 million overall. At least, we spent over N3 million to get the tractor back in shape. Then, the economic losses of the grasses and crops are about another N2 million,” Akinniyi told FIJ.

The farmer said the repeated attacks have shattered their confidence in the farm, forcing them to arrive later and leave earlier out of fear.

For many years, herders and farmers have consistently clashed in Nigeria with hundreds of people losing their lives as a result. In many cases, the cows would often feast on crops about to be harvested.

In 2021, southern states signed the anti-grazing bill into law and in 2024, the Oyo State Government sentenced a defaulting herder to five years in jail with a N1.7 million fine option.

The bill to ban open grazing in Nigeria and transit to ranches for herders only passed its second reading in the Senate in June 2024.