How farming has kept me, my family away from begging – Borno IDP
Although Bulama Mustapha was displaced by Boko Haram insurgents, unlike a lot of internally displaced persons in various camps, he makes his family comfortable through farming, instead of waiting for interventions from government and donor agencies.
Bulama Mustapha, 60, was the district head of Kauri in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State before Boko Haram insurgents invaded his village in 2013, killing 50 persons. Fortunately, he fled with his family.
Before the attack, he was a successful farmer on the plain of Alau dam, also in Konduga.
When he fled to Maiduguri and took refuge with his relatives at Sabon Garri in Gwange ward, he made up his mind to continue the farming business. He was determined not to wait for handouts from government and non-governmental organisation in any displaced persons’ camp. He would rather work to cater for his wife, two daughters and three granddaughters.
He started by cultivating vegetables on a section of an expansive sloppy land by a river that runs through parts of Maiduguri metropolis.
Speaking to Daily Trust Saturday he said, “As a seasoned farmer I swore never to go and languish in any large displaced persons’ camp. And I thank Allah that till this day, I have never received a cup of grain from any government or nongovernmental organisation to feed my family.’’
Taking advantage of a nearby river, Mustapha engages in irrigation farming on this sloppy land belonging to Alhaji Mohammed Goni, a Second Republic governor of Borno State.
He cultivates the land with other displaced persons who were chased out of their different agrarian communities around the Alau dam.
Telling his story he said,
“As a district head I had more than 200 people under me, to whom I allotted farmlands every cropping season, but Boko Haram chased us to Maiduguri.
“They attacked us regularly, and after every attack we would go back to farming in our community. But unfortunately, the last attack we witnessed was massive as we buried 50 of my people on a day. That was when we decided to flee to Maiduguri, where I first lived with my relatives. But after some months I rented a room.
“Life was not easy for us at the initial stage as hunger dealt badly with us. That forced me to search for where to start farming.
“I mobilised my wife, children and grandchildren to start this farm. Before then, I had started looking for what to do to feed my family.
“I got to know about this land through someone who linked me up with one Idrissa, the person looking after the land for Baba (Mohammed Goni) and he gave us permission to stay and engage in farming.
“I plant vegetables such as tomatoes, garden eggs, watermelon, okra, pepper and others.’’
Asked how lucrative the farming has been, he said, “Sometimes I harvest 40 baskets of tomatoes, especially during the rainy season. But when I started, I was not harvesting as much due to financial constraint. I harvested as little as I could plant.
“Things started improving when my grandchildren, daughter and wife joined me. If you had come earlier you would have seen them. They help me a lot.
“We work day and night here. We enter the farm every day by 6:30am and close at 7pm. My wife always brings my meals here.
“The farm is everything I have; it is my life. I am always here as I don’t have anything else to do, aside prayers.’’
Unlike many others, today, Mustapha’s story as an internally displaced person is that of success as he lives comfortably with his family in his farmhouse. He has engaged in farming activities for the past seven years.
Mustapha recalled that when he started cultivating the farmland with his wife, there was no water nearby to irrigate it, so his wife and children would always look for where to fetch water for that purpose.
But he could not remember the number of years he cultivated the farmland before he knew that it belonged to Mohammed Goni.
“After sometime, one day we were working on the farm, and suddenly, a big man came out of his car and called us. When I looked at him carefully, I recognised him to be the former governor of Borno State,’’ he said.
According to him, he is still surprised at the kindness of the former governor as he allowed him to cultivate the land free of charge.
“When he called me, he asked: ‘Who gave you the permission to cultivate this land?’ I replied that it was Idrissa. He asked again, “How much did he collect from you?’ I responded that he did not collect money from me. Then he said it was fine.
“That was when I knew that the land belonged to former Governor Goni. He gave my daughters and grandchild money and drove away.
“But before driving away, he told me to please help him look after his gum Arabic. He was so impressed with my grandchildren that he shook hands with them. I said to myself, if not for Boko Haram, how would I have interacted with him?
“He has been coming to see us. One day, I consulted with my fellow displaced persons cultivating sections of the land and we agreed that it would be nice for us to visit him.
“We begged his driver to carry us to his house. We packaged some farm produce in our own little way and paid him a surprise visit.
“He was happy to see us. We sat with him and ate together in his house.
“My daughters and grandchild always wanted to see him. At times he sent his driver to come and check us, and the children knew that whenever he visited, there would be stipends for them that day. He would not come and leave us without giving us something,’’ he narrated.