Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Audu Ogbeh, has explained what he meant by the term ‘cattle
colony’ as the only solution to the protracted clash between Fulani herdsmen
and farmers.
The minister insisted that cattle
colonies being suggested by his ministry remained the only panacea in sight to
ending the recurring war.
Ogbeh had on Monday said Federal
Government had resolved to establish cattle colonies in a bid to put an end to
the persistent Fulani herdsmen, farmers’ crisis across the country.
According to the minister,
facilities such as grass and water will be provided to take care of herdsmen
and their cattle.
Speaking with Dailypost yesterday
in his Abuja home, Ogbeh said Nigerians had largely misunderstood the concept
of cattle colonies thereby, misinterpreting it with sensational reportage in
the media as extending Fulani colonialism.
He revealed that the cattle
colonies being talked about does not transfer land ownership to Fulanis and was
not a new concept since the British had in 1942 proposed same even before
Nigeria became an independent nation.
He said this was why the Obudu
Cattle Ranch was established, a gesture that made founding fathers like Awolowo
and Ahmadu Bello to set up ranches in Akunu and Mokwa and most recently Governor
Mimiko in Anuga.
“In biology, you have animal
colonies, you have bees, snake colonies and in some places crocodiles. Once
there is a large concentration of any species of animals whether artificial or
natural you call them colonies.
“A colony is much larger and
viable, cheaper and safer because the colonies will have several ranches in
them where the government is ready to provide water and feed at subsidized
rates for the herds with the view to increasing their yields.
“We have chosen to embark on cattle
colonies because we want to supply water to cows, because the grass they eat is
not just any kind of grass. Cows are very selective about the grasses they eat,
even if they are not, the quality of grass they eat determines the quality of
beef and milk you get”
“For the purpose of succeeding in
this project, seeds of grasses have been gotten from Argentina, Brasil and the
US and domesticated on a large scale”, he said.
Chief Ogbeh further explained
that the government was not forcing any State to donate lands for the project
but that those who understood the concept were donating lands for the takeoff.
“One third of the cows moving in
the bush have Bovine TB and they can transmit same to human beings.
“In Holland one cow in the summer
consumes one hundred litres of water per day so when a cow is heading from
Maiduguri to Lagos on foot and doesn’t have access to ten litres of water in a
week, that’s torture and explains why we have the lowest yield of milk in West
Africa.” He added.
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