‘Harmless’ Cashew Rustlers Making Farming Hopeless, Enugu Women Complain

Some women in the Udenu belt of Enugu State have called on the state government to deploy its Forest Guards at strategic cashew plantations in Obollo, Ezimo and Eha-Ndiagu following the emergence of unknown young men who forcefully and ‘harmlessly’ dispossess them off their cashew harvests on a daily basis.

Our correspondent was told that the rustlers “do not cover their faces, but remain unknown.”

According to a victim, one Mrs Monica Ezeme, from Ezimo, “I encountered them twice. I was harvesting my cashew plants one Tuesday, and immediately I finished and packed my harvest in the bag and set to go, one young man came from nowhere. He had a bag, which I can’t tell what is inside it.

“From the same bag, he brought an empty fertiliser bag, and gestured to me to turn the cashew I harvested into his own. I did, and he left without talking.

“These are not Fulanis. They are strange. I handed my harvest over to him because I don’t want any problem. I was alone, and the bush was far from where people reside.”

One Ebere, from Eha-Ndiagu, said she experienced the same. In her words, “After I harvested my cashew nuts, the young man appeared from a nearby gully erosion and used his hands to command me to pour my harvests into his bag.

“ I did it. I was afraid of rape. Some of our women had experienced such in the hands of cattle herders. But the young man that met me simply collected my harvests and left. I was afraid, and had to depart from the place without looking back.”

“Before now,” narrates a woman who did not mention her name, “it was Fulani herders that chased us out of our farms. Today, it is unknown cashew rustlers.

“Those boys hang on top of hills to observe when women are lonely in bushes. They don’t attack men. I always go to farms with my grown-up son, or any male companion.”

THE WHISTLER reports that a bucket of cashew nuts called ‘painter’ sells for over N10, 000, with the tendency of price soar expected in a few months from now.

Meanwhile, a security expert, Cajethan Nnadi, has called on the Enugu State government to reposition its Forest Guards established by the administration of former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Nnadi said, “The concept is to make them secure our farms against herders. It was also meant to assure farmers of their security. But they are always seen at drinking joints and at events where they are asked to maintain peace. Unless they are made to work according to the goal of their creation, I think they should be phased out.

“Again, we should not leave everything for the government alone. Community vigilantes should rise to this challenge.

“The women are no longer willing to go to farms. Our traditional rulers and presidents general should reorganise local security outfits to guard these bushes for general safety. These boys come from neighbouring communities.”