Food scarcity: Yobe IDPs resort to eating wild plants

Hundreds of returnees in communities liberated from Boko Haram in Yobe state have resorted to eating a wild plant, coffee pod known locally as ‘Tafasa’ for survival.

Daily Trust gathered that the situation has affected returnee communities of Gujba, Goniri, Katarko, Ngirbua Kasaisa, Buni yadi, Gulani and part of Damaturu that largely depend on interventions from government and other donor agencies.

Musa Haruna, an IDP returnee in Buni yadi, revealed that the consumption of the coffee pod is on increase as several households depend on it for survival.

“Although were interventions from government, donor agencies and international organizations, but the interventions were grossly inadequate” he said

A resident in Katarko, Mohammed Goni, told Daily Trust that the intake of the plant is making people to purge, saying “some people will cook the plant and eat it without any ingredient. This usually causes complication if too much is consumed because the plant is used as medicine to treat ailments like fever and body rashes. People cannot afford the oil and groundnut cake that there turn it into delicacy,” he said

He said that the state government was supplying food through State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) but it is ‘grossly inadequate’.

“The food intervention from government only sustain us for few days, or couldn’t go round sometimes” he added.

When contacted, the Chairman, Gujba Local government, Alhaji Kyari Batarama, said the state government is consistent on supplying food items to the returnees. “They can only eat Tafasa for interest not survival, government has been supplying food to all returnee communities in Gujba and Gulani without break,” he said