As Nigeria’s annual rainy season progresses, farmers across the northern region are abandoning their fields amid escalating attacks by jihadist militants and armed bandit groups, raising concerns over the country’s food security. The northern states, responsible for approximately 70 percent of Nigeria’s grain production, are facing growing disruptions that threaten both local consumption and regional exports.

Armed groups, including jihadist factions and bandits who engage in kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling, have intensified raids in rural areas of northern and central Nigeria. These groups often impose levies on farmers, demanding payments in exchange for access to farmland. Many farmers, having exhausted resources on ransom payments, find themselves unable to afford these extortion demands, while others have fled entirely, leaving crops unplanted during the critical rainy season from June to September.

Ya’u Tumfafi, an official at Kano’s Dawanau grain market, one of West Africa’s largest trading centers, warned of impending food shortages. He emphasized the risk of a significant mismatch between demand and supply, which is likely to drive up food prices across the country.

Violence in Zamfara state, a hotspot for bandit activity, recently escalated when 39 community elders from Magamin Didde were abducted while negotiating a peace arrangement aimed at allowing farming activities to resume. Sanusi Dosara, political administrator of Maradun district, said the kidnappers are demanding a $92,000 ransom for their release and to permit the resumption of farming in the area.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken note of the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria. In its latest economic report, the IMF cautioned that worsening internal security could exacerbate poverty and food insecurity. The fund urged the Nigerian government to bolster security measures, particularly to combat oil theft and protect both farmers and herders.

In Zamfara’s Tsafe district, traditional chief Ado Sabon Fegi reported that bandits are preventing communities such as Chediya from farming, causing hundreds to abandon their lands. Similarly, in Zurmi town and nearby areas, residents have ceased planting activities following multiple kidnappings and killings in recent days, according to local resident Aliyu Musa.

Neighboring Sokoto state faces pressures from the jihadist group known as “Lakurawa,” which has restricted farm access unless farmers pay fees, said Garba Sodangi, agriculture director in Tangaza district. In the northeast, where Boko Haram insurgency remains concentrated, fields near Maiduguri—Borno state’s capital—are also reportedly controlled by militants demanding payments, according to Abdullahi Sani, a fisheries union official.

Despite a significant military presence in Maiduguri, state authorities struggle to maintain control beyond major urban centers. Recent attacks include the kidnapping of 12 farmers in Zabarmari village by Boko Haram. Three of those abducted were killed as a warning, Sani said, with ransom demands placed on the families of the survivors.

The overlapping threats from ideologically driven jihadists and profit-motivated bandits continue to imperil Nigeria’s agricultural sector during a critical period, deepening challenges to food availability and rural livelihoods in the country’s most populous region.