Not many people know about Zip, a community in Karim-Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State. Tucked between the River Benue and the thick forests that lead into Yankari Game Reserves in Bauchi State, over the years, the people of Zip have earned accolades for peaceful coexistence.
However, what many do not know is the ingenuous way people solve their economic problems. Known as a fishing, farming and hunting community, Weekend Trust found that residents of Zip have for decades adopted the age-long practice of trade by barter to sustain their families and the local economy.
A visit by Weekend Trust to Zip, in Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba State, reveals how fishermen, farmers and hunters exchange their food produce through this old system. Mostly done in the open, when dozens of fishermen gather at the riverside or ponds to fish, the practice sees farmers in need of fish approach fishermen to exchange food items such as yam tubers, rice, guinea corn and other farm produce. On the other hand, hunters equally make exchanges with farmers and fishermen.
Some of the residents attributed the sustenance of this practice to the lack of cash flow due to the absence of road networks, markets and other infrastructure needed for a thriving and modern community. Zip, located across River Benue has no road network, therefore motorcycles, canoes, and engine boats remain the standard means of transportation. Residents say vehicles only access the area during the dry season when routes leading to Zip from the other side of River Benue and the small rivers dry up.
This reporter found that there are three routes to get to Zip community. The first is a 420-kilometre trip from Jalingo, the capital city of Taraba State to Lafiya Lamurde in Adamawa State into Karim Lamido town which is the headquarters of Karim-Lamido local government area. The second route is still from Jalingo to Lau town to Karim-Lamido town and into Zip town. This trip usually takes about 230 kilometres. Yet again, to get to Zip, one can travel from Jalingo to Mutumbiyu town, the headquarters of Gassol local government area to Kwatan Nanido and into Zip through River Benue.
Weekend Trust reporter travelled through the last route, which is about 157 kilometres. Moving on a motorcycle from Mutumbiyu town, through Kwatan Nanido, this reporter boarded a small jetty located at the bank of River Benue and then boarded an engine boat to cross the river into Zip.
In Zip, this reporter observed that apart from the River Benue, which offers the residents the opportunity to fish all year round, there are big fishing ponds which residents rely on for their fishing activities during the dry season. but Micah Dantala lsoko, one of the few among the residents who attained high education lamented that fishermen now experience poor catch and that had reduced their income.
Similarly, the area is a centre of hunting wild animals. However, with the declining number of wild animals and laws prohibiting poaching activity, Yakuku Adamu, a resident of the community said “Most of the wild animals had run back to Yankari game reserve located Northward of Zip.”
Arriving at the community on February 16, this reporter went to the Sonkir Fishing Pond the following day, where he witnessed the trade by barter between farmers and fishermen. At Sonkir, one of the biggest fishing ponds, located a few kilometres away from Zip town, farmers would bring farm produce to exchange for fish. Isiyaka Adamu, a fisherman, told this reporter that the practice has been ongoing for decades and that the value of each food item is measured and considered during negotiations. “When a farmer brings pieces of yam for exchange for fish, the market value of the fish and yam is considered before the deal is sealed,” he said.
He further explained that though residents of the community are mostly farmers and fishermen, there were those who specialised in hunting wild animals such as buffalos, elephants, and hippopotamuses, among others. But things have drastically changed. Laws protecting many of the animals have forced many of the hunters to find new occupations in fishing and farming.
Madam Joyce Bulus, a farmer told Weekend Trust that whenever her husband needs fish, he exchanges their farm produce with a fisherman for fish. “The yam l brought here is for the exchange of fish,” she said, pointing at some tubers of yams bundled together by a string. “We don’t pay for the fish with money, we just exchange it. We also use other food items for exchange such as beans, rice and guinea corn for trade by barter,” she said.
Another resident, Lawal Adamu, explained that the community used to have more fishermen than farmers. He said because of that; fishermen always had a reserve of fish without a stock of grains, a situation which promoted trade by barter among the residents.
Even with a thriving system of trade by barter, the people still need money for transportation and other activities. Compounded by the fact that Zip has no central market for buying and selling, a large part of their commodities are moved across the river Benue to markets in other communities.
Alhaji Gambo Saidu, a community leader in the area said the lack of access roads and markets means they use motorcycles as their means of transportation, a process he described as expensive. “We pay between N5000 to N6000 for each bag of maize or paddy rice to Mutumbiyu, across the river. That reduces the profit margin for a farmer. And so, many of the farmers and fishermen reserve part of their produce to exchange for other items they need at home,” he said.
Garba Adamu, one of the fishermen in the area, told our reporter that dozens of large baskets of smoked fish are often transported in engine boats to Tella, Ibbi, Makurdi and Lokoja from Zip daily. “What has sustained the practice of trade by barter among the residents of Zip is the lack of access roads which prevents buyers from coming into the community to buy farm produce and fish in large quantities,” he said.
Taraba State Commissioner of Works, Mr Mosey Luka, when contacted about the lack of access road to Zip, said he didn’t know the area. He, however, said if the community needed road networks, they should write to the state government to make a request.