Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
A global non-profit organisation, Synergos has proposed integrated settlement and implementation of the ECOWAS protocols on cattle tracking and registration among the solutions to the perennial clashes between pastoralists and farmers.
The recommendations were contained in a report conducted in Abuja by agricultural experts at a validation workshop on policy study on controlled grazing.
The study was carried out by consultants from Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUAA) after a research in Kogi, Kaduna and Benue States.
According to Prof Abba Aminu of BUK, tracking and registration of livestock moving from across the borders is one the ways to address the recurring conflicts between pastoralists and farmers.
Aminu said they proposed that the federal government should implement the ECOWAS Protocol that mandates member nations to register and track all animals by putting microchips to enable their easy identifications wherever they are going.
“The consultants constituted by Synergos, recommended to government to implement the ECOWAS trans-human protocol by putting microchips on these animals, so that they can be tracked wherever they are going. We want government to control and coordinate the movement of livestock. And we have to take advantage of technology; to do that is very possible, “Aminu, an agro-economist, remarked.
The panel similarly recommended for establishment of integrated crops and livestock settlements across the country.
Aminu said the model has been accepted by pastoralists and farmers as one of the ways to end conflict as the settling up settlements will create a symbiotic relationship between the two groups.
He said the crop, livestock settling model already in place Kaduna, Benue, Kogi and Oyo States allows the herdsmen and farmers to come together and do business.
“We need to settle them together because farmers are getting manure from livestock, while the pastoralists in turn get residues from farmers. On the other hand, cattle would be used as animal power to plough the field, fetch water among others. This is one of the best models accepted by stakeholders and it means farmers and herdsmen are coming together in one community and benefitting from one another, similar to what government is proposing with the cattle colonies,†Aminu said.
The third recommendations also sought the involvement of local leaders and traditional leaders at the community level by working with pastoral associations to discuss key issues.
The Country Manager Synergos, Adewale Ajadi, stressed the need to map out the grazing reserves, organise the herdsmen, control and organise how cattle is reared and educate people in line with modern trends.
A Grazing expert from UNAAB, Prof Olufemi Onifade argued that establishment of cattle colonies may not be applicable to all communities in resolving the farmers/herdsmen conflict. He added that the policy should only be implemented where it is acceptable.
