NAN-AE-7
Reserves
By Ginika Okoye
Abuja, July 5, 2017 (NAN) Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in Plateau has urged the Federal Government to revive grazing reserves nationwide to sustain livestock production.
The Secretary of the Plateau Branch of the association, Alhaji Adullahi Ardo, who gave the advice while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of a workshop in Abuja on Wednesday, added that the revival of reserves would ensure peaceful coexistence between farmers and pastoralists.
Ardo further said the persistent clashes between farmers and pastoralists in some states of the federation had made reviving the reserves a necessity.
Cue in audio (Ardo)
“What is the Nigerian government doing to see that livestock farmers sustain what they are doing.
“The land is not expanding but the population is expanding so how do you adjust to what is going on with the current development.
“ Nigerian citizens should understand the situation with the pastoralists.
“There is no hotel or food vendor that you go to that they don’t want to eat meat, they don’t want to take milk, or do we want to eradicate livestock in the country?.
“I believe Nigerians should work together for the development of agriculture and agriculture is not only crops, it also involves the livestock.
“So the person who is practising livestock, how does he sustain livestock industry in his domain?
“Allow some corridors for the livestock farmers so that there should be peaceful co-existence, that is my belief.
“Those existing grazing reserves should be revitalised because we have grazing reserves that have been gazette and farming activities have encroached into it and the livestock industry is just left with the peasant livestock farmer, they cannot determine, this land is mine.’’
Cue out audio
Ardo, who expressed regret over the current stigma on pastoralists across the country, advised the members to maintain peaceful co-existence with farmers.
He appealed to the government to provide dams, boreholes for pastoralists in the dryland areas of the country to avoid further crisis
The secretary said that most pastoralists who were currently causing crisis in the country were foreigners and rustlers from different neighbouring African countries.
He called on agencies saddled with the responsibility of checking illegal migrants to step up actions to reduce their invasion.
“The government has to control the coming in of pastorilaist from other countries, we know we have accepted moving from Nigeria to other countries , because of ECOWAS treaty but our land is depreciating, so we believe that the Immigration, the Customs that are involved in the border areas should control the number of animals coming in,“ he said.
Ardo commended the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Vom, Plateau State for producing vaccines to assist livestock owners to save their animals. (NAN)
GINI/LAB/YEE
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Edited by Lydia Beshel/Emmanuel Yashim