Abuja
House of Representatives has charged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to liaise with state ministries of agriculture, to urgently educate and encourage herdsmen on the benefits of cattle ranching.
The House also urged the executive arm of the federal government to liaise with states that were interested to work out modalities for the establishment of ranches, as a lasting solution to the incessant clashes between herdsmen and their farming host communities.
Also, the House has mandated its committee on Agricultural Production and Services to ensure the above resolutions are implemented, and report update back to the House within eight weeks.
This was fallout of a motion, sponsored yesterday by Hon. Mohammed Onawo, who said there was the need to educate herdsmen on the benefits of ranching, in place of the proposed cattle colonies.
Onawo argued that the ranching option “will offer lasting solution the recurring conflicts between herdsmen and farmers, if herdsmen would be fully sensitized and educated about the benefits of the programme, as it would enable them assume full ownership of those ranches,” adding that the proposed cattle colonies was not in tandem with Section 42 of 1999 Constitution, as well as the Land Use Act.
However, Nasir Ahmed in his contribution said the use of ranches would rather be rather be too expensive, and “cannot sustain unless government intervenes by providing dams and irrigation channels.”
“The Fulani herdsman follows the weather, countries where ranching is practiced is where you have rainfall of about eight months in a year,” he said, adding that “a bag cattle feed cost around N5, 000, which a single cow can finish in a day.”
“Cattle routes are no longer in existence because of development, so we need to modify the Fulani’s way of life. We need to face the reality and understand that human life is more important than any business,” she said.
Several others spoke on the motion before it was adopted through voice votes, when Speaker Yakubu Dogara put a question to that effect.
