South-East traditional rulers favour cattle ranches to curb farmers-herdsmen fights


 Members of the South-East Council of Traditional Rulers has called for the establishment of cattle ranches by private investors to curb incessant hostilities between herdsmen and their host communities.
The Chairman of the council, Dr Eberechi Dick, made the call on Friday in Enugu when some traditional rulers in the zone paid a solidarity visit on Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
Dick said that the Federal Government would be doing a disservice to the unity of the nation if it dabbled into the creation of grazing reserves across the country.
He said that monarchs in the zone were pained by the killing of innocent residents of Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.
“We are here on a solidarity visit and to console you over the sad and unfortunate incident that took place in Nimbo community.
“We also note with regret the failure of security agencies to timely intervene in the incursion of the suspected herdsmen,” he said.
The traditional ruler appealed to the Federal Government to urgently take necessary measures to disarm all herdsmen who were reported to be heavily armed.
“Herdsmen should not be allowed to carry arms apart from the traditional bows and arrows.
“On the rumoured grazing bill, our position is that cattle rearing is a private business and that government should not dabble into it as this will mean favouring one part of the country unduly.
“There should be cattle ranches established by private cattle owners where they are convenient to be established just as it is done all over the world,” he said.
Dick commended Enugu State Government for the mature and proactive measures it put in place to ensure the incident did not degenerate.
Responding, Ugwuanyi described the visit as reassuring and confirmed the sense of brotherhood in the people of the zone, particularly in times of distress.
The governor said he was confident that his administration had put measures in place to avert future occurrence through the reactivation of the neighbourhood watch in line with extant laws of the state.
“We have put in a holistic approach in checking incidences of the herdsmen and other infractions in the state and are confident that we will prevent future occurrence,” Ugwuanyi said. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Re
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus,
Read more