Nigeria’s food basket state is boiling as killings and deadly attacks on farmers disrupt food supply and put the nation on the hunger map.
No fewer than 100 persons were killed late Friday into Saturday morning in Yelwata, a sleepy, agrarian community in Benue State, according to Amnesty International.
Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State produces large quantities of yam, rice, maize, cassava, and soybeans consumed in Zamfara to Enugu.
But many of those farming these crops have either been killed or displaced, raising concerns of a likely severe hunger and high food inflation.
Amnesty International said “gunmen have been on a killing spree with utter impunity” in Benue as deadly attacks occur frequently in a state so blessed that it feeds one-sixth of Nigeria’s population.
At least 10,217 people were killed in two years since President Bola Tinubu’s government took power in 2023. Out of this number, 6,896 died in Benue, representing 67 percent of the total. About 2,630 were massacred in Plateau.
Read also: Outrage in Benue as over 100 feared dead in Yelwata
“We are flirting with severe hunger. We are already hungry as a nation but when we allow terrorists to destroy a state that produces the food we eat, we will inevitably have acute hunger, very high food inflation and social crisis,” said Ike Ibeabuchi, an emerging markets analyst.
Food inflation in Benue
Food inflation in Benue, Nigeria’s food basket state, rose to its highest levels in five years in April 2025.
BusinessDay analysis of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report indicated that food inflation in Benue rose to 51.78 percent in April 2025 from an average of 18 percent in the same period of 2021.
The NBS report said, “Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Benue at 51.76 percent, Ekiti at 34.05 percent, and Kebbi at 33.82 percent.”
Before the resurgence of violence in March 2025, Benue’s food inflation had not crossed the 30 percent mark.
In April 2023, it stood at 24.52 percent, up from 18.64 percent in the same period of 2022. It rose further to 37.56 percent in April 2024.
But the sharpest spike ame in the wake of violent attacks that have displaced hundreds of farmers across the state in March 2025.
In communities like Ukum, home to the Zaki Biam International Yam Market, more than 341 people across 88 households were killed in a single wave of attacks, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
These planned attacks by bandits and herdsmen in communities like Gwen West, Apa and Guma — all farming communities — have not only led to a hike in food prices but also sacked farmers.
“Right now, prices of yams have doubled because the communities where they are grown are hubs for insecurity. Production of certain staples has dropped, and this is driving price surge,” said Andrew Nambe, secretary of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Benue chapter.
According to him, unrelenting waves of insecurity in the state have led to a surge in food prices.
“Food prices are not what they used to be here again. For those of us who are natives, we know that insecurity has significantly increased our food prices over the years,” he explained.
Nembe also said many farmers are now homeless and are forced to live in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, noting that this is likely to decline food production and create hunger.
China Peters, a farmer and IDP resident in Benue, said he has lived in the camp for 10 years after being displaced from his village in Udei.
“I live in the IDP camp with other farmers from my village and other villages. It’s been 10 years now. At the beginning of this new administration, I had thought they were going to restore peace and regain our homes, but so far, nothing has been done,” he said.
“We tried to go back to our farms last year, and were able to produce a little food, but this year, with how insecurity has increased, we cannot even think of going to the farm,” Peters added.
Prince Yandev, chairman of AFAN, North Central chapter, said that until insecurity is permanently tackled, farmers will not return to their farms, hence food prices will remain elevated, with severe hunger beckoning.
Read also: YEAC-Nigeria calls for state of emergency in Benue
Hunger rising
Nigeria’s food inflation stood at 21.1 percent in May 2025. Compared with several African nations, the continent’s most populous country lags peers. Zambia’s food inflation in May was 17.9 percent; Egypt, 11 percent; Rwanda, 10 percent; Kenya, 6.3 percent; Namibia, 5.8 percent; Tanzania, 5.6 percent; Uganda, 4.8 percent, according to Agora Policy.
About 33 million Nigerians could experience food insecurity in 2025, according to the UN World Food Programme. Eighteen percent of the Nigerian population is under-nourished, as 31.5 percent of children under-five remain stunted.
There were 196,502 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the nation as of December 2024.
Ibrahim Kabiru, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), said the recent insecurity issues in key food-producing states of Benue, Plateau, and Zamfara will disrupt the country’s food production and spike prices.
“The respite Nigerians have experienced in food prices will be upturned with these recent attacks on farmers and farming communities,” Kabiru said.
“Farmers have become apprehensive, and this is a major factor in the availability of food, along with climate change,” he added.
