PUTTING AN END TO OPEN GRAZING

Open grazing of cattle is a growing problem. It pays more to embrace ranching

In recent years, Benue and Plateau States have not only been in constant turmoil but also a graveyard of innocent children, women, and indeed men—victims of incessant conflict and attacks by suspected herders. In the latest of such violence on June 13, suspected armed herders stormed Yelewata village in Guma local government to unleash one of the deadliest assaults that resulted in the death of no fewer than 100 people. While President Bola Tinubu visited the state and made the usual promises, the tragedy has reopened the debate about the contentious issue of open grazing.

In its January report to Tinubu, the Presidential Committee on Livestock Sector Reforms Implementation recommended measures that the government can use to mitigate the farmer-herder clashes across the country. “I think some of the challenges we’ve faced in the past, which have led to the politicisation of the issue, stem from being quick to adopt a singular mindset regarding the solution,” said committee chairman, AttahiruJega who noted that the report suggested a 10-year implementation timeline for the recommendations with a combination of both ranching and open grazing for now. “In a complicated situation like this, we need to think in terms of incremental positive changes, and we must have a time-frame within which these will be achieved.”

We have made this point several times: In the history of humanity, the stage of development at which man wandered for a livelihood belongs to the stone age. It was in the bid to stem the internecine violent clashes between herdsmen and farmers, that almost all the states in the southern part of the country as well as two states in the North (Benue and Taraba) banned open grazing by livestock. With little variations that take care of peculiarities in these states, the law prohibits movement of livestock and open grazing as well as the carrying of firearms or other offensive weapons by herders. But to end the nomadic culture, we need a short, medium and long-term plans that would involve all the stakeholders. The conversation about how to modernise the way we rear cattle in the country must also begin, especially considering the threat nomadism continues to pose to our national security.     

When in August 2021 former President Muhammadu Buhari doubled down on his controversial pledge to revive the contentious grazing routes for herders by approving the recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch, 368 grazing sites across 25 states in the country and to determine the levels of encroachment,” the decision pitted him against sections of the country where open grazing has been banned because of the criminality and insecurity associated with it. As we argued then, even if the grazing routes were still valid, they can only facilitate further clashes between settler farmers and migrant herders. Besides, by allowing some people, including foreigners, to roam the length and breadth of Nigeria, our territorial integrity is being violated. We also violate the rights of these animals, and endanger the health of citizens through exposure to the elements and a cocktail of diseases. 

 While migrant cattle herding has ceased in almost every other country, it is unfortunate that Nigeria is still saddled with the problem. Modern ranches have replaced roving herds while beef production has become a modern mechanised industrial undertaking. Therefore, the federal government must create the platform for a wholesale discussion on the future of animal husbandry in relations to the transition from nomadism to ranching. A package of incentives, including soft loans, liberal access to land, training, and provision of inputs to herders and others can help facilitate the transition and ameliorate the challenges associated with it.

If done properly, we can then employ and re-train the herdsmen in modern settled cattle farming. The animals will be healthier; the handlers will earn decent incomes, have decent accommodation, own property, and have schools for their kids. Ancillary industries will also emerge and employment opportunities will blossom. That, we believe, is the right thing to do.