Thehigh rate of banditry and kidnappings in the Northwest of Nigeria may affectfood production in the area by over 50 per cent, according to two apex farmersassociations. Officialsof All Farmers Association of Nigeria,AFAN and Rice Farmers Association ofNigeria,RIFAN, made expressed the viewin interviews with Newsmen added thatthe criminal activities are wiping out family incomes. Theynoted that already, bandits had displaced more than 10,000 households, mostlypeasant farmers, in Zamfara, while in Kebbi, the hub of rice farming inNigeria, no fewer than 350 farmers hadbeen forced to abandon their farms by the criminals. TheSecretary of AFAN in Kebbi, Muhammad Idris, said in Birnin Kebbi that banditryhad affected farmers and cattle breeders. Idrisurged the security agencies to be on the watch and take action against anysuspicious character in the state and also solicited the involvement ofNational Union of Road Transport Workers to tackle the menace.