NAN-AE-2
Grazing
By Nathan Nwakamma
Yenagoa, Dec. 14, 2016 (NAN) Mr Alagoa Morris, a renowned environmentalist and human rights activist, has urged Gov Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa to back his recent announcement of a restriction on open grazing with law.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on Dec. 8, Dickson announced a restriction of the movement of herdsmen to Bayelsa Palm area of Yenagoa to check indiscriminate grazing.
Reacting to the governor’s announcement in an interview with NAN on Wednesday in Yenagoa, Morris said the restriction was not only timely, but also a step in the right direction.
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“Let me applaud the governor for listening (to the yearnings of farmers across Bayelsa).
“It shows that they (the government in Bayelsa) is a listening one; it shows that government is sensitive to media reports on radio.
“They say ‘fence makes good neighbours, you know your limits, that is why if actually they are going to talk about and strategise about this ranch of a thing, I will say, it will help.
“The farmers should know their limits; the nomads should also know their limits, because nomadic life should have a limit; it should stop.
“Maybe in Africa they are still doing it, but in developed climes they don’t do that.
“And all these things are taken as indices of development.
“Allowing these cattle to move about anyhow in this nomadic fashion also shows that we are far from development.’’
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According to him, the move will help preserve the economic interests of farmers in the state.
He said farmers in the state had lost their crops to uncontrolled grazing of cattle by herdsmen.
He noted that the uncontrolled grazing of cattle has led to conflicts between farmers and herdsmen.
The activist urged the state government to come up with a piece of legislation that would reinforce the restriction placed on grazing of cattle in view of the planned establishment of cattle ranches in the state.
Morris observed that an enabling law would provide the legal framework needed to penalise and prosecute offenders.
He advised that the laws should work out detail on ownership of the ranches and other salient conditions to forestall future conflicts with communities where the ranches will be sited. (NAN)
NN/LAB/YEE
Edited by Lydia/BeshelEmmanuel Yashim
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