Borno State Government in partnership with the NSCDC has launched a special squad named “Agro Rangers” to give Protection to farming communities constantly harassed by insurgents.

The Team consists of 75 personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, 120 Civilian Joint Task Force members as well as local hunters and vigilantes.

The constitution of this team is expected to give farmers the necessary cover with a view to boosting the food reserve of the state.

Aside trans-border commerce, farming is the major trade of the people of Borno State before the emergence of the Boko Haram crisis.

The nearly ten year long insurgency has reduced the people from the farming communities to displaced persons, living in make shift shelter living on handouts from humanitarian agencies.

Over the years farmers in resettled communities who have dared to return to the farm have been attacked, with many losing their lives and yields to insurgents who wait for the harvest season to attack.

The “Agro Rangers” Squad would now give farmers security cover, ending the embargo on farmers before now restricted from going beyond two kilometers from the local settlement.

Borno is the first state to benefit from the NSCDC Agro Rangers squad put together to mitigate the farmers/herders clashes common during farming seasons.

Personnel of the NSCDC trained specifically for this purpose are being supported with equipment and operational vans by the state government.

The people are hopeful that this special squad will boost the confidence and resilience of the local people and also bring to an end the frequent harassment of innocent farmers trying to settle down to normal lives in liberated towns.