Fulani herdsmen in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, at the weekend paid a compensation of N380,000 to farmers in Kasa community for the destruction of farmlands by their cattle on the 4th of January this year. The herdsmen had deliberately reared their cattle into the farmlands of the community against the peace moves by the military Special Task Force (STF) on peace in the state.
Sector 7 Commander of STF in charge of Barkin Ladi, Colonel Valentine Okoro, said the task force was able to bring the two parties to the negotiating table and the destruction was valued at about N380,000.

Okoro said the herdsmen having agreed that they were at fault, were made to pay the compensation. “So we are looking forward to an end to these destructions of farmlands and an end to cattle killings in Plateau State.”
STF Commander, Major General Tagbo Ude, said: “We are adopting this mandatory compensation for any farmland that is deliberately destroyed or cow that is killed.”

He said the task force was a symbol of justice and does not take side with anybody.
On his part, Secretary, Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in the area, Muhammad Adam Muhammad, thanked the farmers for not taking the laws into their hands, and appealed to herdsmen to ensure that their cattle do not feed into farmlands.

He said: “It is not the compensation that matters: we want this to stop. We want the person who has farmed to go and cultivate his farmland and we hope that such acts of farmland destructions will not be repeated.”
The youth leader of Kassa community, Iliya Luka Bot, who spoke on behalf of the farmers thanked the task force for the intervention, but noted that though the value of the destruction was more than the compensation, they had agreed to take the N380,000 in the interest of peace.

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Kassa: Peace methods yielding results in Plateau as herdsmen pay compensation to farmers for destroyed farmland