Four years down the line after the federal government launched the ten-year national livestock transformation plan to curb the movement of cattle, boost livestock production and end the incessant deadly herder-farmer conflict, the project is yet to kick off in full force in relation to its implementation.
Some of the challenges affecting its full implementation includes, lack of political will, procrastination, funding uncertainties and a lack of expertise.
The federal and state governments are fraught with the arduous task of implementing the national livestock transformation plan that seeks to curb the movement of cattle across the country and reduce deadly herder-farmer conflict.
While the plan has earned the endorsement of many state governments, it faces significant challenges identified as deficient political leadership, popular misperceptions about its purpose, budgetary constraints, a lack of personnel with the expertise to carry it out and widespread insecurity.
But almost four years into the ten-year plan, it is yet to actualise. The worry at the moment is that if the plan fails like previous initiatives to modernise livestock management did, the herder-farmer clashes may escalate. In many states, especially in the north-west, the proliferation of criminal gangs and other armed groups is cutting off access to grazing reserves and scaring away potential investors.
There is growing apprehension in the country that unless addressed, these and other problems could delay or even scuttle the plan, leaving the country vulnerable to an escalation of herder-farmer conflict, which could degenerate into wider ethnic, regional and religious violence.
One state governor who has taken it upon himself to ensure that the plan sees the light of day is Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano. In a bid to find lasting solution to farmers-herders clashes in Nigeria, Kano State government organised a National Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts.
In January this year, Ganduje inaugurated a committee tasked with organising a national conference which will proffer solutions to farmer-herder clashes. The 26-member committee was chaired by Attahiru Jega, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ganduje said the national livestock transformation plan (NLTP) proposed by the federal government to tackle the problem has not yielded results because of inadequate political leadership.
Explaining the basis for convening the national conference, the governor said, “Since assumption of office in 2015, we in Kano have led the way and have been pioneering the initiation of development-oriented interventions at reformation of the livestock sector to mitigate farmer-herder conflicts by tackling the issue headlong.”
On February 13 and 14, the Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts sponsored by the Kano State government was held at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja. The conference was declared open by Governor Ganduje. Goodwill messages were delivered by His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar Ill, the Sultan of Sokoto; the Emir of Kano, HRH Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero; representative of the minister of state for agriculture and rural development; representative of the senate president, and representatives of civil society organisations and development partners.
The vice president of the Islamic Development Bank and former minister of finance, Dr Mansur Muktar, chaired the opening session while the keynote address on sustainable livestock production in Nigeria was presented by the registrar, Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, Prof Eustace A. Iyayi.
The event drew experts from different sectors, including scholars, professionals, captains of industry and practitioners in the field of agricultural development, value chain specialists and researchers in diverse fields of animal production.
Contributing to the resolutions of conference were experts from various fields, including specialists in range management veterinary services, economics, history, cultural studies, climate change, natural resources management, governance and conflict management.
In his welcome address, chairman of the oganising committee, Jega said the conference was designed as an all-inclusive process to generate ideas that would contribute to addressing an acute national problem.
“As Nigeria searches for sustainable ways and means of diversifying its economy, becoming self-sufficient in food production as well as a major competitive exporter of Agro-allied products in the global economy; and becoming a stable, more cohesive developing democracy, a national strategic focus on the Livestock sector and its perennial challenges is an imperative that has assumed significance,” Jega said.
Declaring the conference open, Governor Ganduje stated that even though the Rural Grazing Areas (RUGA) or ranching had been deliberately politicised, it remains the only option that would to a greater extent mitigate existential problems.
He said to end the perennial crisis between the farmers and herders in Nigeria the pastoralists must be persuaded to move their cattle into ranches and grazing reserves across the country.
He listed aiding of information, education and strategic communication on the development of grazing reserves as a way of mitigating the consequences of these conflicts.
The governor noted that while modernising the livestock sector is not the only key to resolving the herder-farmer conflict, it is envisaged that the economic investment pillar will support and strengthen the development of market-driven ranches for improved livestock production through breed improvement and pasture production.
With this, he noted that pastoralists would have lands to graze without cattle encroaching on people’s farmlands because herders need fodder for their cattle.
He continued, “It is also very important that we must also avoid the dangers of allowing these conflicts to harden to religious or ethnic conflicts. This is the responsibility of political, religious and all other parts of our leadership elite in Nigeria.
“We must also intensify existing collaboration with our neighbours, especially border communities, to prevent the movement of small arms, and disarming armed pastoralists and bandits who go through our borders day after day.
“Predominantly nomadic pastoralists should be persuaded to move their cattle into established ranches and public grazing reserves, where breeding farms and other mechanised livestock management practices would bolster the sector’s productivity.”
On his part, the Sultan of Sokoto, told state governors to come up with concrete solutions to the farmers/herders conflict through creating grazing reserves rather than grandstanding that they do not have any land to cede for the project. The royal father noted that lands belong to God and not to the governors.
