Farmers Herdsmen’s Clash: Lasting solution on the way – FG

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has assured that the Federal Government would soon find a lasting solution to the crisis between farmers and herdsmen.

This, he said is line with the Federal Government’s desire to diversify the economy through agriculture.

The Minister said this during a media briefing on a conference to be held next week on “Transformation of Nigerian Livestock Industry”, to discuss the recurring clashes between farmers and herdsmen and some other constrains within the agriculture sector.

The conference will also enable the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to meet with both the federal and state governments to brainstorm on how the crisis could be effectively resolved.

Ogbeh said the conference would enable the government to address key concerns in the areas of access to land and land tenure security; infrastructure; inputs and management strategies with access to finance and market for farmers as well as market for livestock and livestock products.

He said: “We understand very well that the issue of pastoralist and farmers’ clash goes beyond Nigeria issue. Other nation’s like Ghana, Togo and the Republic of Benin also suffer from similar issue.

“We are not just solving a national issue; we are solving a regional and global issue. Whatever solution we get here, we will also link it up with our neighbors’ in West and Central Africa to ensure a lasting solution”.

Chief Ogbe expressed concern that the livestock sub-sector had not been fully explored in terms of supplying the animal needs of Nigerians, poverty alleviation, revenue generation and foreign exchange for the country.

“The livestock sub-sector is bedeviled by many constraints, which include low productive breeds of livestock, income loss due to pests and diseases, conflicts between nomadic pastoral translucence system due to feed and fodder insecurity and low income due to limited access to markets and finance hinged on lack of quality and standards with poor infrastructure”, he said.