Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has said the era of open grazing of cattle in the country is coming to an end.
The association’s comment is coming in reaction to the statement by the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, that there should be a law banning the movement of cattle from the North to the South.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Monday, MACBAN’s Secretary General, Baba Usman, said the era of nomadic pastoralism was coming to an end considering the increase in population of humans and animals.
He also said the body was already agitating to have settlements for herders, describing it as the ideal thing to do.
He said, “On the association side, we are already agitating for a solution to this problem — settlement, let the Federal Government come with the settlement model. The pastoralists cannot continue moving, looking for pasture; that era is coming to an end considering the increase in population against the land that does not increase. The human and animal populations are always increasing.
“The population keeps on increasing, this puts a lot of demands on land, which does not increase. Demand for farmland, road construction, institutions and so many others. There has to be planning on the part of the government for both pastoralists and farmers to coexist. Part of this is to create a model that will settle pastoralists in one place. Settlement in one place is one of the solutions that we have always been agitating for.”
He described Ganduje’s statement as coming from the right person, saying the governor had practised as a herder for many years.
He said, “Ganduje is a hardcore Fulani, he was brought up in that setting. This statement is coming from someone who knows the intricacies and dynamics of rearing cattle in the forest, he knows the problems, advantages and disadvantages because he was born and brought up in the Rural Grazing Area settlement. There is no other person that can make such statements than Ganduje himself.”
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