Herdsmen: ‘Nobody Roams Cattle In 21st Century’
Paramount Ruler and King of Iwo land in Osun state, Nigeria, Oba AbdulRasheed Adewale Akanbi has tackled the Federal government of Nigeria over the issue of grazing by saying that field grazing and cattle roaming is barbaric and should be abolished at once as it does not conform to modernization and 21stcentury development of any country.
Oba AbdulRasheed made this statement during a meeting with stakeholders at his palace which focused on solutions to herdsmen’s incessant attacks on innocent Nigerians. He said that no government that wants to move forward will encourage grazing and that there’s no place in the world where government acquires land on behalf of herdsmen for the purpose of cattle grazing.
He suggested that the herdsmen could either rent, lease or buy land for pen/byre construction to accommodate their cattle and that it is at the farmer’s or land owner’s discretion to sell such to them.
“The herdsmen got it wrong due to the lack of education towards animal farming in the 21stcentury. The alternative to grazing is to build pens furnishes with sufficient hay storage. This will help restrict the cows to the confines of the pen – which is a controlled area. That is how it is done in advanced countries. You can never see herdsmen openly grazing cattle in Europe”, the Oluwo said.
“The herdsmen can even purchase hay to feed the cows from the farmers thereby establishing and sustaining a peaceful affinity with farmers across Nigeria” , he added.
Oba AbdulRasheed however advised the federal government that the solution to Fulani herdsmen/farmers recurring clashes is proper orientation and education on modernized animal farming and not acquiring hectares of land on behalf of herdsmen as grazing zone across the federation.
