Herders-Farmers crises: Tinubu may establish ministry for livestock

…Ganduje committee submits report to president

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Bola Tinubu Thursday received a recommendation to establish a ministry of livestock as part of the solutions to the recurring herders-farmers clashes, mordeninzing and improving livestock production in the country.

National Chairman of the AlI Progressives Congress(APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, announced this while briefing newsmen after leading the committee on Livestock Reforms to present its report to the president at the Aso Rock Preaidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.

Ganduje who is former governor of Kano State said the president is prepared to act on the recommendations in his determination to solve the problems associated with livestock in the country.

He said the report submitted “grew out of the urgent need to reform and develop the livestock industry and to provide solutions to the age-long conflicts between herders and farmers in Nigeria.”

According to him: “The low productivity of the sector has made Nigeria an import dependent economy draining scarce foreign reserves used for importing dairy, meat and other livestock products.

“Similarly, the conflicts is resulting in killings of citizens and loss of livelihoods, further affecting peaceful coexistence in the country. With increasing populations, ecological changes such as soil erosion and degradation of grazing areas and changing climates, adopting innovative crops and livestock production practices is no longer luxury but an essential investment that this people centred administration under your leadership needs to vigorously pursue.

“There have been repeated attempts to develop the livestock industry with varying levels of failures and successes.

“The adoption of improved production practices that will increase productivity and help the cattle owners to permanently settle have been abysmal due to many factors such as inadequate planning and funding of programmes, weak extension services as well as other cultural, economic and technological barriers.

“The persistence of these problems has allowed unhealthy competition and acrimony to grow among farmers and herders resulting to violent conflicts across the country.”

Ganduje recalled that as the governor of Kano State, his administration made deliberate efforts to promote the modernisation of livestock production, while at the same time strengthening local authorities to manage relationships and amicably resolving conflicts between the groups.

He added: “For this reason, Kano State remained among the most peaceful States in the country throughout our eight years of governance.

“It is these and other related experiences that this Committee reviewed and analysed, while also drawing from varied experiences across the world to come out with practical recommendations for reforming the livestock industry at the national level.”

More details later…