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By Chinyere Anyanwu, [email protected]
The goals of ending the protracted conflict between Fulani itinerant herders and farmers across the country and bridging the gap in cattle supply in the country are achievable if the recently created Livestock Development Ministry takes head on the implementation of various notable strategies that have helped other countries address similar issues.
This was the submission of the Coordinator of International Trade for Livestock and Aquaculture, Pastor Temitope Oluwadipe, during a chat with Daily Sun at the weekend.
Oluwadipe, a livestock expert, said one of the major tasks before the livestock ministry is the education and training of the herders who are majorly illiterates and, therefore, lack knowledge of the modern techniques of livestock farming. A situation which, he said, accounts for their constant movements and encroachment into people’s farms, adding that it is lack of education that worsens the farmers/herders’ crisis.
He equally noted that the country’s cattle deficit can be addressed by the ministry when the right steps are taken. He stated that Nigeria ranks number seven in cattle production in Africa with only 20 million cattle to cater for the beef needs of over 200 million people while Ethiopia, the highest cattle producer on the continent, has 70 million cattle.
Oluwadipe harped on the need to educate, train and introduce the herders to ranching and grass growing for livestock feed. He said, “in countries like South Africa, Holland and Denmark where they have ranches and grow their own grasses, livestock farmers have no business with taking cattle all about. They have grasses like biacra, supanapia and malato and all of them have about 18 per cent protein which fatten their cattle but in Nigeria, we don’t have these grasses and the ones eaten by the cattle here are not rich in nutrient. That is why when you compare our cattle with those reared in ranches in these other countries, ours will be weighing about 500kg while theirs will be weighing about 1,200kg.”
He said, “all the Livestock Development Ministry needs to do is to educate the herders on the importance of embracing ranching, planting the needed grasses for cattle feed and they are set for greater yield. Even the Fulanis themselves are tired of roaming about.”
Lamenting the quality of meat derived from cattle that have been exposed to long distant trekking, the livestock expert said, “for instance, if you are bringing cattle from Sokoto to Lagos, you are not eating meat; you are eating fibre.”
Oluwadipe said the ministry should take a cue from Arla Foods, the producer of Dano Milk in Nigeria. According to him, the company has ranches where it rears cattle and grows its own grass with which it feeds them.
He explained that, “these grasses can last for one year if you build silage where they can be stored after harvesting them. The supanapia grass from Kenya can grow very well in the southern part of the country and it is drought-resistant and can grow to about four meters long. When you cut it, it grows back. It can be there for seven years. Grass seeds can be bought in the country and also from Brazil which has gone far in this venture.”
Oluwadipe also decried the quality and quantity of milk produced from cattle reared by itinerant herders, saying, “after the cattle have travelled from Sokoto to Lagos, they cannot produce anything tangible. You cannot get more than three liters of milk from a cow. Before a cow can give you good milk, it must be in a particular place for more than 11 hours. A cow in Netherlands can give you 50 litres of milk a day while our own will give you three litres at most because what you are feeding it with is not rich in nutrient.”
The livestock expert stressed that if “the new ministry is serious about the task of ending farmers/herders’ conflicts, it must include ranching and grass growing in its plan. It will be to everyone’s advantage if these steps are taken because when you have a cow weighing about 1,200kg, the meat of one or two of such cow can feed a whole lot of people.”
He advocated a system where the itinerant Fulani herders are educated and shown video clips of operations in well managed ranches in other countries as a means of convincing them to have a change of mind in their mode of operation.
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Furthermore, Oluwadipe challenged the governors of the 17 southern states of the country to encourage their people to venture into cattle ranching, noting that if these governors “give lands to their people and introduce livestock farming to them, there would be no room for anyone coming from the North carrying cattle about. We will make a law; if you can’t keep you cattle in a place, you can’t do business here.
“Let’s encourage our people in the South to go into ranching. It is a serious money making business for both men and women. For instance, in Lagos, they slaughter about 8,000 cows everyday. Assuming the cheapest one sells for about N400,000, that is about N3 billion going from the South to the North on a daily basis.
Why can’t we go into this business? In Kenya, 600,000 households are are engaged in cattle rearing business and that is why Kenya and Ethiopia are the highest milk producing countries in Africa.”
Continuing, Oluwadipe said, “the problem is that most of our governors in the South are shying away from the truth. Most of the cattle you see in this region of the country are owned by the Obas and not the Fulanis and they are the ones who employ these Fulanis to rear the cattle for them and they even buy them guns. An average Fulani does not have cattle.
They are just professional rearers Instead of this, the Obas can go into ranching; this is what they do in advanced countries. The governors should allocate lands for ranching, organise seminars for the herders and encourage them to realise there is a lot of money in this business.”
The poor breed of cattle being reared in the country was another major issue the livestock expert urged the ministry to tackle. According to him, “we don’t have quality cattle breed in Nigeria. That is why you have a breed in Nigeria giving you three litres of milk while the a breed in Kenya is giving 60 litres of milk. So having 20 cows of the good breed is better than having 100 cows of low quality breed.”
Voicing his expectations of the Livestock Ministry, he said, “it is about information and education. Train the herders in the modern way of doing this business and introduce them to farm settlements. That is what we need now. The ministry can establish cattle village for them where they will have ranches and plant grass. Land is available in the North, and they will be happy.
It will really help to end the farmers/herders’ conflict if they work on it.
“If these strategies are well implemented, they will help tackle permanently the farmers/herders’ issue. This will make the Fulanis happy because they will cease from trekking across the country. The Yobe governor has even called on Fulani herders to come to the state, assuring them of land availability for ranching. Everybody wants better life and they are not different.”
He pointed out that young Fulanis no longer engage in cattle rearing business owing to its tediousness but noted that the situation could be reversed and the youths made to get involved again through relevant education and helping them to see there are better and easier ways of doing the business.
He appealed that television and radio stations should devote at least one or two hours a week to educate and enlighten citizens more on these agricultural opportunities.
