The
Federal Government has set aside N940m to be spent on grazing reserves across
the country despite growing opposition to its establishment.
There
have been reports that the government is considering the establishment of
grazing reserves across the country as a way of ending Fulani herdsmen attacks
on farmers and residents of their host communities.
The
proposal has, however, met stiff resistance from individuals and some state
governments especially in the southern part of the country, who believed that
the creation of grazing reserves would give the rampaging herdsmen the
opportunity to increase their attacks.
The
Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Archbishop Adewale Martins; and a former General
Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Archbishop Joseph Sunday,
are among those who have opposed the proposal to establish grazing reserves
across the nation.
They
said instead of establishing grazing reserves, the Federal Government should
build cattle ranches in states where cattle rearing is the major occupation.
Also,
Oyo and Ekiti states have made public their opposition to the creation of
grazing routes, with both states saying they had no land for the routes in
their states.
In
a similar vein, the grazing reserve bill is still being debated in the Senate
and House of Representatives.
Some
stakeholders, except the Miyetti Allah, the umbrella body for the cattle
rearers in the country, have advocated the creation of cattle ranches to curb
the movement of herdsmen and stop the attendant destruction of crops and the
loss of lives.
According
to the details of the 2016 Budget, made public by the Minister of Budget and
National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo-Idoma, on Thursday, however, the
development of strategic grazing reserves is one of government’s priority
projects for the year under agriculture.
This
is an indication that the Federal Government may have decided to go ahead with
its plan despite the opposition.
According
to the budget details, the government will spend N940m on the project in 2016.
The
document is, however, silent on the number of such grazing reserves that would
be developed and where they would be located.
It
said the project, among others, was in pursuit of the nation’s goal of
self-sufficiency and food security.
It
also noted that N1.3bn would be spent on supports for 187,500 farmers; another
N1.3bn would be spent on rural roads; N939.7m for extension services; and N940m
for price stabilisation/buy-back/price guarantee scheme.
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