Abuja – Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh says 11 states have provided 55,000 hectares to establish ranches to curb farmers and pastoralists clashes in their states. Ogbeh made this known at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.

Ogbeh said the states are Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Katsina, Taraba, Niger, Adamawa, Jigawa, Sokoto and the FCT. He said of all the enterprise in the livestock sector, only the poultry industry had achieved an appreciable level of commercialisation. Ogbeh said other industries in the livestock sector were predominantly in the hands of subsistence farmers with pastoralist system of production contributing over 90 per cent of cattle production in the country.

He said the 2011 National Agricultural Sample Survey indicated that Nigeria was endowed with an estimated 19.5 million cattle, 72.5 million goats, 41.3 million sheep, 7.1 million pigs and 28,000 camels. Accordingly, the minister said the country had 145 million chickens, 11. 6 million ducks, 1.2 million turkeys and 974, 499 donkeys. Ogbeh said this impressive statistics which had made Nigeria number one in livestock in Africa had not met the national demand of animal protein or contributed to the GDP over the years. He decried the low milk production in Nigeria as a cow produced one litre of milk a day while a cow in Saudi Arabia or Brazil produced 30 to 40 litres. “Saudi Arabia produces 4.7 million litres of milk daily while Nigeria imports about 1.3 billion dollar worth of milk annually to make up deficit. “The way forward in improving our livestock and dairy industry is to intensify efforts on adding value to the industry along the respective livestock value chains.

“In line with our goal of attaining self sufficiency in animal protein, this administration has set out to establish ranches to be planted with high quality improved tropical grass and legume species. “We shall provide irrigation for all year commercial fodder production to enhance settlement of pastoralist and ensure cattle, sheep and goat improvement through an expanded breeding programme through artificial insemination. “We shall group dairy farmers in clusters, build their capacity and equip them with milk collection facilities and facilitate single digit loan for them,’’ he said. The minister said there was a new disease outbreak affecting maize production in some parts of Edo and in the South West of the country.

He gave the name of the disease as “army worm’’, adding that relevant research institutes were working on it and the ministry was monitoring the level of threat it posed. Ogbeh urged farmers not to panic, adding that the ministry would take further action if the disease is not controlled within a short time.

Analysis by ViewPointNigeria

The statements above by the minister of Agriculture Mr Audu Ogbeh, are cheery – if implemented objectively.

Without a doubt, ranching of cattle is a better strategy to forestall the incessant conflicts between farmers in the middle-belt and their nomadic counterparts. It is not news that desertification in the extreme North has destroyed and rendered grazing areas in Sokoto, Katsina and other Northern states unsuitable for cattle.

As such, herdsmen from the North are forced to travel downwards into the Middlebelt and the South, where lands are more fertile and the ever green and succulent savannah of Plateau, Benue, Kwara and other middle belt states allow cattle to feed fat.

However, with such immense migration of cattle southwards, comes potential for conflict, because such cows trespass and destroy farmlands etc. The frequency at which this has happened has led to severe clashes with farmers – leading to full blow conflicts and the antecedent attacks witnessed.

If this yearly nomadic practice of moving cattle from North through the middle belt to the South is allowed to continue – the conflict will persist (regardless of whether Government designates grazing reserves/routes or not). This is because most communities are against the idea of taking lands from farmers (who make up over 70% of the Nigerian population) and givng such to herdsmen (who only make up a paltry 2%), but also – it is difficult to control cattle in a set path without them veering into farmlands and destroying crops. As such, my opinion is that the ranching policy prescribed by chief Audu Ogbeh is a better solution to minimising and managing the conflict which has persisted.

Under this policy, grazing ranches will be designated and provided – consistent with 21st century practices where cows are not herded from place to place, but are made to live in ranches and enclosures. This allows better oversight and control of the rearing practices – where new jobs are created, government obtains taxes from land rent, cattle rustling is minimised and access to vertinery services become common place.

That said, it remains to be seen whether the nomadic Fulani will accept the proposal of ranching over grazing reserves. Past reactions by MACBAN – the umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen has suggested that they are not favourable disposed to the concept of grazing ranches because they argue that it negates their culture of constant migration and travel. MACBAN also argues that the breed of cattle being reared in Africa differs from those in Houston Texas and other developed parts of the world (which are typically ranched). They argue, that ranching the “Sokoto Gudali” breed of cattle, could lead to death of the cattle because they are not used to just being held in one place.

Allow me to digress a little bit to the reactions that trailed the policy announcements by Gov. Lalong this week. It is not surprising that Benue state is conspicuously missing from the list of 11 states that Audu Ogbeh said have donated lands towards this policy. You’d remember that Gov. Ortom came out clearly to deny his endorsement of the policy. Gov. Lalong has however maintained deafening silence – and it has now become apparent where the government’s stance is. What is also ironic though is that Chief Audu Ogbeh, the main proponent of this policy (who hails from Benue) has not seen fit to convince Gov. Ortom of Benue to donate lands for this (since he said it has all these juicy benefits), but Plateau which  has little or no land has been quick to join in.

Finally, I must caveat the ranching policy by saying that Plateau traditional rulers and government will need to be savvy, wise and careful about how they go about selecting such lands, so that too much burden is not placed on particular communities or that they end up getting displaced from their enclaves. Our leaders must be savvy of the fact that a policy which starts as ranching can in the long run, become a grazing route or grazing reserve if not carefully managed.

The relevant community stateholders will need to be engaged and lobbied accordingly. Government should not just authoritarianly rope in communities into such an unpopular policy.

See previous articles on this issue at:

Simon Lalong’s unique position on the Grazing Reserves/Ranching Policy

BECO petitions Plateau security council over activities of herdsmen in Riyom and Barkin Ladi

Dachung Bagos urges traditional rulers not to give lands for grazing reserves

By Dr. Chinan Mclean

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Ranches for grazing: Plateau among 11 states to provide land for cattle ranching – Audu Ogbeh