The National Livestock Reforms Committee has recommended the creation of a Ministry of Livestock, to end perennial farmers’/herders’ clashes in the country.
The committee, headed by the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, also recommended means of funding for the planned modernisation of the livestock sub-sector of the Agricultural sector.
Ganduje, who led the committee to a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa yesterday in Abuja, also said the President was prepared to act on the recommendations in his determination to solve the problems associated with livestock in the country.
“Let me start with a proverb. They say: ‘It is easy to declare a war, but it’s difficult to wage it.’ This means we have made a number of important recommendations because we studied previous attempts: the failures, and the successes, and we put them together and made recommendations to Mr. President.
“But in order to find the solution, practical solution that will provide the desired goals, you will need a strong institution. We recommended the establishment of a Ministry of Livestock and subsequent agencies so that various aspects of the recommendations will have appropriate institutions for implementation.
“We also recommended a source of funding, including international organisations, the private sector, the government itself, so many other things. So, the answer we get is that Mr. President is ready to proffer solutions to these problems, especially pertaining to the economy of the livestock and then the security aspects of the herders-farmers’ conflict,” Ganduje said.
Read Also: Lukman meets Ganduje over book on ‘APC and Transition Politics’
The APC national chairman said the report his committee 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”.
He added: “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 are resulting in the killing 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.”