South-West group decries encroachment into farm land by herdsmen


The Yoruba Initiative (TYI), a socio-cultural and non-political group in the South-West, has decried the encroachment into farm land by suspected herdsmen in the region.

Mr Folu Olamiti, the spokesman of TYI in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said the increasing encroachment into farm land was already posing threat to the economy of the region.

Olamiti called on the South-West governors to take the problem as a challenge by collaborating with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN).

He urged the governor to develop an action plan aimed at preventing further encroachment of farm land.

The statement also called on the Federal Government to urgently intervene by looking into the problems and the dangers posed by the cows ravaging farm land in the region.

It averred that the problem, if not curbed could result to commotions and disunity among ethnic groups in the country.

According to him, grazing on farm land in the south-west by the herdmen has been a source of discouragement to farming in the region as farmers had continued to count their losses.
”The efforts of the Federal Government at diversifying the economy with farming as a major anchor are already being compromised by the ravage on arable land by cows.
”If it continues, it will worsen poverty and food security, not only in the south-west, but also across the federation in the foreseeable future,” he said.
Olamiti urged the Federal Government to spread its agricultural development programme across the geo-political zones instead of concentrating on only the northern part of the country.


The spokesman said the spreading of the programme across the zones would enhance the realisation of the Federal Government goal of making agriculture the highest employer of labour in the country.  

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