PAN cautions farmers on security consciousness

The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has cautioned local farmers to be security conscious to stem the tide of attacks and kidnap incidences in the sector.
The PAN Lagos State Chairman, Mr Godwin Egbebe, made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
According to the chairman, farmers cannot take arms and defend themselves as it is unlawful but they can be more security conscious.
“Owing to the various insecurity issues and cases of kidnapping we face as farmers, we have advised our members to thread with caution.
“We have asked local farmers to be more security conscious and take necessary measures to ensure their safety in and around the farms.
“We cannot carry arms while we go about our daily activities on our farms as we are not licenced to but we can take security precautions.
“We have also advised farmers to alternate the routes they take to their farms. They should not use the same routes all the time
“Farmers should also ensure their itinerary is also kept secret sometimes,” the chairman added.
Egbebe also called on local farmers to minimise information dissemination about their itinerary as anyone could be an informant.
In addition he said “The farmers should ensure that their movement to and from the farm should not be publicised because they may have informants among their farmhands.
“These kidnappers work by information they get from people close to the farmers, so they have to be wary.
“Farmers must apply wisdom in navigating their movement in and around their farm because a number of our farmers have been kidnapped overtime.
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“We cannot form vigilance groups to protect ourselves but we should apply necessary security measures.
“The average farmers have a lot to grapple with from sourcing feeds to prevention of disease outbreaks, so we cannot take up the issue of security ourselves.
“We cannot leave the business of farming to go into security defence, we can only be more cautious,” he noted.