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The Imo State Chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) has apologized to farmers in the state over the damages done by their cattle. Audi Dikko, Chairman of MACBAN in Imo, urged the farmers to forgive the herdsmen during a meeting with some traditional rulers at the Imo Police Command, Owerri, the state capital. The meeting which was convened at the instance of Chris Ezike, Imo State Commissioner of Police, had in attendance, monarchs, farmers, leaders of Miyetti Allah, herders and some government officials. Speaking during the event, Dikko expressed sadness at the pains of different communities as explained by the traditional rulers on the conduct of herdsmen.  He said , “I want to apologise to farmers in Imo State. Imo State is a peaceful state and we have been living peacefully with the people of the state. We want to say forgive us. “We are happy that the Imo State Government has formed a committee to look into this issue and w...

The Taraba State Government has advised herdsmen operating in the state to co-operative societies for easy intervention by the government. Dr David Kassa, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Taraba State, who said this on Monday told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, that crop farmers and herdsmen who formed cooperative societies would be eligible to access government’s intervention to build their own ranches and curb frequent crises. “I want to advise herdsmen and other livestock farmers to form cooperative societies for easy identification and intervention by the government. “Between five and 10 herdsmen can come together and build a ranch and mark their cows to live there. This can make for easy access to government’s intervention in terms of grants, soft loans and subsidies on animal feeds,” he said. Kassa said ranching was the best form of rearing animals globally.  NAN reports that ranching is the p...

Dr. Yakubu Bununu, Coordinator, School of Post Graduate Studies at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has urged the Federal Government to prevail on herdsmen in the country to adopt the zero grazing model being practised in Kenya, saying pastoral nomadism is primitive and outdated.   Herdsmen in Nigeria Bununu who made the appeal while speaking at the end of this year’s African Land Policy Conference in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, said the Kenya model would lessen the clashes between herdsmen and farmers. He said adoption of the model would significantly modernise the cattle economy and prevent the attendant loss of human and cattle lives as well as destruction of farm infrastructure and produce. The university don, who also heads a team of researchers funded by the University of Groningen, Netherlands, said the anti-grazing law enacted by some states of the federation may end up creating more security challenges than intended. “On the other hand,...

Federal Government has started the training of 3,000 personnel as part of the implementation process of the recommendations by a committee jointly set up last year by the Agriculture and Interior ministries to deliberate on the operational modalities of a special unit that will act protect farmers and their investments from attacks by criminals, especially kidnappers. The unit, known as Agro Rangers, will operate under the auspices of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and will be drawn from the NSCDC arms squad. Officers in the unit are currently undergoing training in weapon handling facilitated by the Nigerian Army. At the end of the training, they will be deployed to farms and ranches across the country. Their presence, it is hoped, will forestall attacks on hitherto vulnerable farms so that farmers can begin to work on their farms without fear of attack. In recent times, there has been an escalation of clashes between farmers and herdsmen in...