A retired Deputy Registrar of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Pastor Samuel Odedele, on Monday has said that his N50m farmland at Iroko/Ijaye in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state was set ablaze by suspected Fulani herdsmen, last weekend.
Odedele told journalists that all he had laboured for during his years of active service had been destroyed.
He said the destroyed farmland had contained palm trees, cassava, yam, potato, cocoyam, plantain, banana, mango, rubber, orange and cowpea, among other crops.
He said the suspected herdsmen operated in the night on several occasions, with their herds of cows destroying palm tree seedlings planted in the farmland.
The farmer appealed to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State to intervene by beefing up security in the affected area.
Odedele lamented that the destructive activities of the rampaging herdsmen had forced most farmers in the area to abandon their farmlands.
“The ones we are maintaining we put hedges with bamboo, binding wire and planks. But they went there at night, cut the binding wire and the bamboo or pull down others, so as to enter the land and continue the destruction of our crops.
“Anywhere these animals grazed last year, nothing can be produced there this year. Crop rotation is not available in most of the Akinyele area because they eat up everything.”
He berated the herdsmen for the dastardly act that has led him and other farmers to incur huge debts, saying that the reason why he invested in the plantation was to enjoy life after retirement.
