Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha has revealed that the Federal Government in efforts to end recurring clashes between farmers and herders plans to rehabilitate grazing reserves and establish modern ranching settlements in six areas identified as major conflict flashpoints.
He spoke with reporters on Tuesday after briefing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on the ministry’s activities and implementation of the National Ranching Policy.
Maiha identified Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Adamawa states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory as priority areas for the intervention because of their history of farmers-herders conflicts.
Maiha said the government had identified 417 grazing reserves nationwide and had begun a pilot scheme in Plateau State, which would serve as a proof of concept for a new livestock production model designed to reduce the movement of cattle and address one of the major triggers of rural conflicts.
According to the minister, the government has also opened consultations with pastoral communities, engaging about 34 organisations as part of efforts to secure their support for the transition from nomadic livestock production to ranching.
Maiha said the ministry met pastoralists under the leadership of the Grand Patron of Miyetti Allah and Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, with another round of engagement scheduled within two weeks.
He said the government’s assessment showed that the traditional system of moving large herds across the country had become increasingly unsustainable because grazing routes had disappeared due to expansion of farms, rapid urbanisation and growing demand for land for infrastructure.
“A large number of cattle on the move is crisis-prone because, number one, the grazing routes have disappeared.
“Farms, large farms have come up, aggressive urbanisation, demand for land for infrastructure development, so many other things have made nomadism not sustainable,” Maiha said.
He explained that nomadism had largely survived as a means of moving livestock from areas where feed and water were scarce to locations where they were available, adding that providing those resources within designated settlements would remove the need for constant cattle movement.
“Why don’t you provide these resources in situ and stop these animals from moving? Human beings can move; they don’t cause crisis. It’s the animals’ movement that normally generates this crisis,” he said.
Maiha said the government was promoting commercial pasture cultivation and a model under which grass could either be grown around livestock settlements or harvested elsewhere and transported to the animals.
He added that breed improvement would enable pastoralists to keep fewer but more productive animals, reducing pressure on land while improving milk and meat production.
The minister said the ranching model would go beyond restricting cattle to designated areas, as the government plans to turn grazing reserves into integrated economic communities equipped with housing, veterinary clinics, primary schools, primary healthcare facilities, solar power and earth dams for irrigating pasture fields.
According to him, concentrating livestock in properly developed reserves could also attract milk processors, modular abattoirs, biodigesters and other businesses along the livestock value chain.
“At the end of the day, each of those grazing reserves will become an economic hub. Imagine what you are going to have if you have 30,000 head of cattle in one area. The milk collection alone will attract milk processors.
“They will attract modular abattoirs. They will attract biodigesters. They will attract so many things that will come there. That is our concept, and that’s what we have been selling to them”, he said.
Maiha said consultations so far had not encountered resistance from pastoralists, who, according to him, increasingly recognise that the old nomadic system could no longer be sustained.
“So far, we have not seen resistance from anybody because the reality on the ground is that nomadism, as it were, is no longer sustainable, and we need a different concept”, he said.
He said another major component of the government’s strategy was the introduction of radio frequency identification for livestock, under which four-legged animals would be fitted with ear tags for identification, geolocation and proof of ownership.
(Ripples)