The federal government says it
will convert the country’s grazing reserves to ranches.
Bashir Usman, executive secretary
of the National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE), disclosed this on
Tuesday at a training workshop on the remodelling exercise held in Zaria, Kaduna
state.
Usman said the move is part of
the government’s efforts to transform and modernise the country’s livestock
industry through the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP).
The remodelling, he said, will
kick of in seven states — Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Kaduna and
Zamfara.
The federal government had mulled
establishing cattle colonies through Ruga. But after a public outcry, it
suspended the plan and subsequently announced the NLTP in its place.
Usman, speaking through Mohammed
El-Nafaty, director, social mobilisation and women development in the
commission, said the existing grazing reserves have already been carved out,
demarcated and gazetted.
He added that 141 out of the 416
grazing reserves, spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country with
a total of 3.4 million hectares of land, had been gazetted.
He said the development would
help put an end to the clashes between farmers and herders.
“The main idea of developing the
grazing reserves into ranches is to provide state –of- the –art- grazing
resources for livestock herders in the country with a view to curtailing the
unending farmer-herder conflicts that are threatening the existence of Nigeria
as a nation,” Usman said,” Usman said.
“This can be achieved through the
transformation of grazing reserves into ranches otherwise known as Intensive
Livestock Production Systems.
“This entails training and
re-training of front-line staff and other key stakeholders, effective community
mobilisation and sensitisation through extension services.
“It also involves the
identification, mapping and clustering of pastoralists and their communities in
the existing grazing reserves as evidence based data preparatory for the full
implementation of ranching concept in the country.
“It equally entails the provision
of the requisite resources and infrastructure to serve as a window of
opportunities for the livestock producers to have access to improved production
facilities and social amenities.
“Other provisions include
schools, security, markets, clinics, livestock service centers, access roads,
milk and meat processing centers along the value chains as well as other
critical infrastructure.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com