THE Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has launched a book that documents research reports on the farmers-herders crisis in the North-Central part of Nigeria.
The report which was written by two senior lecturers at the Department of Sociology in the University of Jos, Plangshak Musa Suchi and Sallek Yaks Musa is titled: The root cause of farmers-herders crisis in North-Central Nigeria.
The authors identified factors propelling the crisis and made recommendations on how the problem could be brought to an end.
They noted that the government, civil society organisations, the media and other stakeholders have crucial roles to play in resolving the conflict.
Senior Fellow Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Book Reviewer at the event Jibrin Ibrahim noted that there was no singular reason for the farmers-herders conflict, and thus described the title of the book as ‘surprising.’
Ibrahim said the establishment of grazing reserves was not the solution to farmers-herders conflict as the Nigerian cattle is the least productive in the world.
“It takes four years from birth to market. In four years, the value of that cow would be N150,000. If you are going to buy feed and bring water to the cow over four years and its market value is N150,000, it doesn’t make economic sense. So it’s not feasible,” he said.
He noted that the most viable solution to the crisis was a form of ranching which would be profitable to pastoralists while keeping them away from the farms.
He canvassed the modernisation of livestock production in the country and urged Nigerian herders to consider the importation of sperm cells of Friesian cows.
“One of the reasons why the 1965 policy was not implemented was the Northern Nigerian Government imported Friesian cows. They all died because the climate was too harsh for them.
“Today there is a solution which is: the sperm treatment of Friesian cows cost one dollar today. We don’t have to bring the Friesian cows. Just import the sperm and it’s cheap. That’s the way to go,” he said.
He encouraged herders to apply the sperm cells of Friesian cows to their cattle, noting that it would increase the rate of milk produced per cow each day from one litre to about 20 litres.
Others at the event include the Coordinator African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and Program Manager Rosa Luxemburg Foundation West Africa Angela Odah.
Others are Country Director Action Aid Nigeria Ene Obi and Human Rights Activist Ene Edeh who urged women to get involved in finding solutions to the farmers-herders conflict.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.