The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the establishment of grazing reserve in Oyo and Ogun, as well as the 19 Northern States.
The start of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) which is aimed at being established throughout the federation will have at least one in each state.
This was made known by Winnie Lai-Solarin, the Acting Director, Animal Husbandry, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sambo Nanono, Friday, said that a Dutch consortium was partnering the government to begin a pilot stage in Nasarawa state, and that the site will serve as a “hub for knowledge and transfer of skill to the pastoral communities and encourage them to adopt ranching as a mode of farming.”
The Minister who stated this in Abuja at the 44th regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD), announced that 21 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have registered with NLTP for the project.
The Minister who said that government was aware of the troubles between farmers and herders, stated that government was determined to finding a permanent solution to the ugly situation.
“We are all aware of the troubles our nation is going through with respect to the farmers-herders clashes, which have often produced violent and expensive consequences. This administration is more committed than ever to solve this problem on a more permanent solution.”
“When fully implemented, the NLTP will bring to an end, the incessant clashes and introduce the herders to the modern way of raising cattle with all the benefits of improved feeding, animal and human health, genetic improvement, value addition and better socio-economic standing for participants.” The Minister said.
He noted that the scheme has been adjudged well conceived globally, with government resolve to create enabling environment to attract more investment into the sector.
To ensure effective monitoring of government interventions in the agriculture sector, the administration has created an online portal to capture bio-data of 10 million farmers and link them with their plots, crops and volume of production in the country.
He announced that the government had planned to capture 2.4 million farmers but extended the target to 10 million on the advice of the Economic Sustainability Plan Team.
