As women water vegetables and uproot weeds in a rural corner of north-eastern Nigeria, men in uniform stand guard nearby holding huge rifles.
They are Agro Rangers – a special security unit set up by the government to defend farmers from militants from jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap), who can strike farms in Borno state at any time.
“There is fear – we fear for our souls,” Aisha Isa, 50, tells the BBC as she tends to her crops.
Because it is no longer safe for her family to live in the home they fled 11 years ago, she and many others like her are bussed into Dalwa village from a pick-up point in the state capital, Maiduguri, early in the morning. It is less than an hour’s drive away.
She now lives in temporary housing, and growing beans and maize remains the only way for her to feed her family, she says.
“We will take the risk and come even if the rangers are not coming.”
Here, the military has marked out a stretch of land, surrounded by clearly defined trenches, where people can plant their crops. If they venture beyond that border, the threat of Boko Haram looms large.
“We have been hearing people are being kidnapped,” says 42-year-old Mustapha Musa. “Some are killed. That is why I’m scared and don’t want to come without security protection.”
The father of 10 says he left his village, Konduga, 13 years ago and will not resettle there until the government brings about lasting security.
In the 15 years since the Islamist insurgency began in north-eastern Nigeria, thousands of people have died and millions have been forced from their homes.
The number of people killed in targeted attacks on farmers this year has more than doubled since 2024, according to research by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled) monitoring group.
Yet the governor of Borno state is speeding up the reintegration of displaced people from camps back onto the land – as part of his stabilisation agenda, and to counter disruptions in food production.
Almost four million people face food insecurity across conflict zones in Nigeria’s north-east, the UN warns. But some aid agencies say move to relocate farmers to boost agriculture has moved too fast.
International Crisis Group, a non-profit organisation focused on resolving deadly conflict, says the policy is putting internally displaced people in danger -highlighting that militant groups extort farmers in areas that it controls to raise funds for its violent extremism.
Kidnapped along with nine other farmers and still terrified long after the ordeal, Abba Mustapha Muhammed has seen first-hand what happens when victims do not pay up.
“There was one that got killed because he couldn’t pay the ransom. His family could not meet the time given,” says Mr Muhammed. “He was killed and thrown away. They asked the family to come and take the dead body.”
Being held captive in dense forest for three days was “unbearable”, he says. “The small meals they prepared often left us feeling hungry and gave us diarrhoea. There was no clean drinking water.”
The father-of-three tells the BBC he is too afraid to return to subsistence farming because “the insurgents are still lurking. Just yesterday, they abducted over 10 people”.
