Federal Government has vowed not to back down on its plan to retrace and recover grazing routes across the country, insisting that it was meant to address the clashes between herdsmen and farmers.
Africa Dialy News, New York gathered that stock routes, popularly called grazing routes, are currently being retraced and recovered by the Federal Government for herders to graze their cattle which is contrary to the expectations of many Nigerians particularly in South that the grazing routes retracing and eventual recovery might not see the light of day.
Officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who spoke to newsmen yesterday revealed that the routes’ recovery would go on from every indication.
Read Also: Wike Moves To Send Anti-Open Grazing Bill To State Assembly
They, however, said it would be done mainly in non-conflict zones.
They also stated that routes that had been encroached upon as a result of the development of public infrastructure might be left out of the recovery exercise.
The acting Director, Animal Husbandry Department (FMARD), Winnie Lai-Solarin, explained that while cattle ranching had been one of the major options canvassed for herders, not every pastoralist would be able to afford ranching at the moment.
She said, ‘There are some stock routes that we have across the country, and in the past, we had monuments along these stock routes, particularly the primary stock routes.
‘And in the course of farming or other human activities along those stock routes, the monuments were altered, but we know where they are. So we are saying that some of them can be retraced.
‘And this is particularly for areas that are not encroached upon as of now. The pastoralists know the routes, and on some of those routes, you will see the pieces of the monuments along them.’
Lai-Solarin added, “So for those that are not encroached upon and are not in conflict zones, we will go ahead to retrace and guide the pastoralists along them. We didn’t get to where we are today in one day and so we cannot expect that every pastoralist should suddenly start ranching now.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, had announced on Thursday that the Federal Capital Territory and 22 states had registered for the National Livestock Transformation Plan as part of measures to establish grazing reserves in their domains.
He also announced that seven of these states had earmarked 400,000 hectares of land for the initiative, as the establishment of grazing reserves were currently ongoing in Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Kaduna, and some other states.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
