By Dahiru Samaila Mafara
Across communities around Bakalori Dam in Maradun, Talata Mafara, and Bakura LGAs, quelea birds first destroyed hundreds of hectares of Rice farmlands this 2026 farming season. Farmers watched helplessly as their biggest investment for the year vanished in days.
We thought that was the end. We were wrong.
In a recent sad development, the same birds have now returned to millet farms.The few crops that survived the rice devastation are now being stripped bare. From irrigated rice to rain-fed millet, nothing is safe.
For farmers who already battle banditry, early poor rainfall, and high input costs, this is no longer a disaster. This is annihilation.
What makes it worse is not the birds, It is the wicked neglect.
For months, farmers made several appeals to both the Zamfara State Government and the Federal Government, They wrote letters. They cried out on Radio and Television as well as newspapers. They marched to Local Government Secretariats. They begged for emergency spraying, relief materials, and compensation.
The response from all levels of government? Criminal Silence.
Not one spraying team was sent. Not one bag of relief was given. Not one official came to assess the damage.
Farming in Zamfara is not a hobby. It is life. It is how families eat and how markets are supplied. When government ignores a disaster that wipes out food, it is telling millions of people that their survival does not matter.
We have agencies for this. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture has a pest control unit. NEMA exists for emergencies. The Zamfara State Ministry of Agriculture has a budget and a duty to protect farmers.
Yet nothing was done while farms were stripped bare. Twice.
The cost is already showing. Hunger. Debt. Frustration. Suicide. A young man whose farm was destroyed twice in one season is a potential recruit for crime tomorrow. A mother who cannot feed her children today is a broken nation tomorrow.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Government must act now, before we bury more farmers than we harvest, Deploy emergency spraying teams to Bakalori and all affected areas immediately, Provide emergency inputs for dry season farming to those affected, Set up an assessment committee to document losses and pay compensation.
The birds will return next year. That is nature.
Zamfara farmers are not begging. We are demanding the basic responsibility of government: to protect lives and livelihoods.
Dahiru Samaila Mafara is a farmer at the BakoloriDam, writes from Talata Mafara.