The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Niger on Thursday warned its members to beware of fraudsters posing as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to defraud unsuspecting farmers.
Alhaji Shehu Galadima, the state AFAN Chairman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna that the fraudsters go to villages pretending to be NGOs or international organisations intervening in specific areas of agriculture.
“They even go as far as organising workshops for the farmers who believe everything they say.
“We are still investigating two cases reported by our members in Bosso Local Government Area and another village.’’
Galadima said that after the various farmer groups fill forms, the next step would be to pay half of the money for the farm input or farm implement they want into a special bank account owned by the scammers.
“Once the money hits their account, they disappear from that area and the farmers will not get the input or farm implements.’’
The AFAN chairman urged the three tiers of government to put a mechanism in place to check the ugly development.
According to him, AFAN in the state is already sensitising its members on this development and how to identify the real donor agencies. (NAN)
