Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has said the banning of open grazing and the provision of infrastructures for cattle ranching are the only lasting solutions to the crisis between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria.
He said this in Abuja while giving his thoughts about the recurrent clashes between herdsmen and farmers in some parts of the country.
The governor explained that allowing open grazing to take place was bound to bring about confrontations between farmers and herdsmen, especially in green belt states like Benue, because the population in the region has outgrown the land needed for farming activities which is the main source of livelihood of the people.
He noted that if the people who were mainly farmers did not even have enough land for their farming activities, allowing herdsmen to openly graze their cattle was bound to compound the woes of the people and lead to confrontations.
He added that since animals cannot be perfectly stopped from derailing into farmlands, it would be very tasking to simultaneously support open grazing and farming.
Ortom said: “Benue state is an agrarian state – the food basket of the nation – and we have no industries. We have no other means of livelihood except farming so it becomes very tasking to support open grazing and farming together.
“The increase in Nigeria’s population has led to increase in human activities; more road networks, more hospitals, more settlement, more farming etc. And the land is not increasing proportionately.
“For us in Benue state, today, if you go there today, there are no empty lands for grazing. So, when herdsmen come to do open grazing, there is no way, no matter how hard they try to control their animals, (these are animals; they are not human beings) they derail to peoples’ farms and then crisis ensue.
“We have been having attacks from both sides – from farmers and from herdsmen. And we have not rested.
“This is something that requires us to look at it deeply and appreciate our traditional fathers.”
The governor further proposed that governments at all level should provide necessary infrastructures to support ranching and also give the herdsmen a new orientation so that farmers and herdsmen can harmoniously work together to meet the food demands of the people as experienced in other countries.
“Honestly, I want to propose that while Nigeria is also growing and ranking with other countries of the world, we must also practice what is done to bring peace in other countries of the world
“Today, we are practicing the Presidential system of government which we borrowed from America. Why can’t we borrow ranching which is done also done in America? That is the global best practice.
“Today in Europe; in American; in Asia; in all developing countries, what you see for breeding of cattle is ranching even in African soil. I happen to travel to Swaziland, there main export earner is beef but they ranch as small as the country is.
“In South Africa and Kenya, they ranch. Why can’t we do the same thing in Nigeria? I know that it is something that cannot be done overnight but it can be done. That is the only solution.
“Governments at all levels need to support these herdsmen. We must come together to provide necessary infrastructures at this initial level and give the herdsmen a new orientation so that together, we can work with them.”
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