ASSESSMENT OF MILITANCY ACTIVITIES ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA.

1.1 Background to the Study
Conflicts and insurgencies of different nature and causes prevail in many parts of the African continent. Some of these conflicts have sadly led to a massive loss of lives and property and to environmental destruction with dire consequences for agricultural production and food shortages. The impacts of militancy activities are so numerous and cut across all aspects of life especially in the Niger Delta region part of Nigeria (Beatrice, 2015). Many areas in the epicentre of the militancy activities namely Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross Rivers, Ondo and Rivers states which are found in the Niger Delta regionhave been rendered unsafe for human habitation, pushing hundreds of thousands of farmers out of their lands. Many Nigerians perceive the Niger Delta as synonymous with the oil producing areas of Nigeria. The region is blessed with abundance of human and physical resources, including the majority of Nigeria’s oil and gas deposits, good agricultural lands, extensive forests, excellent fisheries, as well as with a well developed industrial base (Duru, 2012). It should be noted that, bulk of the farmers in South-South Nigeria are rural dwellers and rural areas happened to be the hardest hit areas by the militants. Recent estimates put the number of people killed and displaced by the conflict as approximately 17,000 and 2.5 million respectively. This has seriously affected all forms of livelihood activities including agricultural production. In a region known for its debilitating poverty, aridity and periodic cycle of drought and famine, the militancy activities has further sown the seeds of famine (Jessica, 2014).

According to Aaron, (2016), moreoften than not, insecurity constituted by militants in Bayelsa state of Nigeria has to a large extent tampered with tens of thousands of people whom major activities is farming. The protracted violence in the affected zone has forced large scale farmers to abandon their farming activities in search for their dear lives. This has to some extent crippled economic activities and hence led to reduction in internally generated revenue of the state. The mass displacement of people have resulted to poor harvest in the Southern and some central part of Bayelsa state; mainly Brass, Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa Local government areas of the State. In addition, rising prices of food and other services in Bayelsa have always been linked to high rate of militancy activities in the state. There are challenges to low productivity, mass displacement, and decrease in internally generated revenue of the state. Consequently, farming activities in many parts of these states were seriously hampered by the activities leading to very significant drop in crop production which in turn led to food security. Perhaps, the most important activity related socioeconomic impact that could lead to the greatest humanitarian crises in the world was its impacts on food security. It is unfortunate that populations acrossthe world have faced various degrees of foodshortages, some with very damning humanitarianconsequences. The World Bank defined food security as a condition where everyone has access to sufficientfood to live a healthy and productive live (Henry, 2017). The Africa Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development (Henry, 2017) defines it as a situation when everyone has physical, social and economic access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs, produce and stay healthy. In fact, food security is when there is food sufficiency with no hunger or fear of starvation. Several indicators are associated with food security. These include availability, access, adequate utilization and stability of food supply at all times (Henry, 2017).

There are four major dimensions of food security: availability of food, access to food, adequate utilisation of food, and stability of food supplies at all times (FAO). Over the past two years, farmers in Bayelsa state and in many parts of Nigeria were no longer able to farm for security reasons especially for fear of attacks by the dreaded militants who continued to unleash untold havoc in the part country. This insurgent activity has in turn affected food production and consequently raised prices of foods that are majorly cultivated in these places like maize, sorghum, corn, beans, peanut, pepper, tomatoes and onions. Besides, it is noteworthy that this same part of the country has been known for mass fishing, which made fishavailable to other part of the nation but today, the story is not the same. The gravity of the crisis has brought about decline in productivity which in turnled to escalation in the prices of Agricultural outputand reduced the per capita income of thousands of farmers. Reports by scholars showed that, with the emergenceof the militancy activities in 2009, it had negatively impacted agricultural activities in manyareas where the insurgent activities are concentratedas aresult of which the contribution of agriculture to the nation’s GDP was seriously affected. Hitherto, agriculture accounted for over 60% of the nation’sGross Domestic Product (GDP) (Francis et al.2012). According to Aaron,(2016), due to thenumerous impacts of the militant activities,average mean of agricultural output to Nigeria’s GDPdropped from 37.050164 in 2009 to 20.996397 in 2013. An evaluation made in the study of the descriptive statistics i.e. the mean scores of the agricultural output from 1994 to 2003 and the outputfrom 2004 to 2017, it was noted that a difference (7.06395739) existed between two groups, as the output from 1994 to 2003 had a mean score of 36.1452229 while the output from 2004 to 2017 had a reduced mean score of 29.0812655. Furthermore, asthe numbers of years for 1994 to 2003 output wereten (10) years, while the numbers of years for 2004 to 2017 output were ten (10) years, the observed difference of 7.06395739 in their mean of their total performance scores could be as a result of thedifference in reduction in the output in 2004 to 2013, which could not be avoided due to insecurity. This implies that the output was affected between 2004 to2017.

1.2 Statement of the Problem
Agriculture has always been the traditional major occupation of the people and has become part of their culture, their way of life and livelihood. The rich alluvial soil of the delta (Bayelsa State inclusive), coupled with copious web of fish and salt water bodies provide the necessary incentives for the people who are predominately farmers and fishers (UNDP, 2006). The environment is very important for the Niger Delta (Bayelsa State inclusive) people, where 60% of the population depends on the natural, living and nonliving organisms for their livelihood. Regardless of the conditions that tend to limit the socio-economic opportunities available to a large proportion of the population, people will, out of necessity; look for means to ensure their survival needs are met.
Many cases of youth restiveness take place in the Nigerian Niger Delta (Bayelsa State inclusive) region. Over the years exploration and exploitation of petroleum have progressively degraded the once pristine and serene environment of the Niger Delta (Bayelsa State Inclusive) into a region with endemic ecological disasters. This is coupled with massive deprivation and impoverishment of the people of the region by successive Nigerian government. The region still lags terribly behind in infrastructure development compared to the other regions. The region has one of the most crushing poverty in the world.
The economic, social and cultural rights of the people in Niger Delta (Bayelsa State Inclusive), the main oil producing region in the country continues to be unfulfilled leading to increasing frustration tension both within and between communities. The increasing marginalization, environmental degradation, discontent with the multinational companies, pervasive poverty, perceived insensitivity on the part of the State and failure of the State to ameliorate the suffering of the people have pushed the inhabitants of the region particularly the youth to the edge.