IN A TABULAR FORM STATE TEN PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOVEMENT OF HERDSMEN.
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Answer:
The clashes between herdsmen and farmers in some states in Nigeria, especially in Benue, Taraba and Kaduna states should not be allowed to generate further by incitement and intemperate statements. The committee set up by the government to solve this problem must come out with a holistic solution which will deal with the problems of encroachment into farmlands, incitement and credible plans to integrate the herdsmen fully into the Nigerian society. The grazing of animals on cattle trails in the 21st century is to say the least antiquated.
India, China, USA, Pakistan and countries with large populations depend on milk and dairy products to fight hunger, malnutrition, unemployment and promote social harmony.
India is a good example with an annual production of 163 million metric tonnes of milk which is about 10% of worlds output.
In India, cattle are reared within the confines of village communities, and farmers cooperatives, mainly for milk production and rarely for the meat. The attachment to the cattle in India is so strong that it is called mother, which in a sense is true because the cow provides food and nourishment for the country’s huge population.
The milk produced in these farms are collected, pasteurized and packed in local dairy plants for local and worldwide consumption as infant foods, cheese, yogurt, butter and other dairy products.
The establishment of ranches and grazing lands may seem attractive and a simple way out of the herdsmen/ farmers clashes. The constraints of land and land ownership in tribal areas is also a big challenge. Ranches are established in countries with huge pastoral lands, like in the lush Pampas of Argentina, grass lands, which alone covers over 700,000 square kilometers of land mass or about 80% of Nigeria’s entire territory. It is the same with the Prairies of USA/ Canada and the mighty Eurasia Steppes in Russia, which is about 17 times the size of Nigeria. The Indian and European models are therefore best suited for the Nigerian situation. Dairy farming however requires special skills and a certain level of education, which the itinerant herdsmen do not possess for now. However, their native and rustic skills should be a useful asset which would accelerate their integration into modern animal husbandry methods. The education of the nomadic herdsmen should therefore be given priority as the first and most important step in the conversion and integration process.