The National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Usman Baba Ngelzarma has alleged that there is a vast grazing lands and that there is no need to acquire lands in the South for grazing. He highlighted the existence of 5 million hectares that have been dedicated to grazing for herders.
He emphasized the importance of protecting and preserving these Northern lands to support the pastoralists. He advocated for establishing permanent settlements within these designated areas, as the current roaming lifestyle of the pastoralists is unsustainable due to population growth and climate change challenge. He stated that by utilizing these assets for permanent settlements, the pastoralists can maintain their livelihoods without the disruptions caused by encroachment and climate change.
He said in an interview with Channels TV, ”We have areas that are dedicated as grazing reserves. We have about 415 or them that are all located in the Northern part of the country. And it covers about 6 million hectares of land but there are some encroachment in them. But if you remove the encroachment out of the total number, you still have about 5 million hectares of land that are dedicated for grazing.
The Lands are there in the North, we don’t need any land in the South for grazing. What we are calling for is the protection and preservation of those lands in the North. If we are going to settle the Pastoralists then build a land for them to be settled.
Since there are dedicated assets that are designated for settlement for grazing, those areas can be used to settle the Pastoralists. But there has to be a model of settlement because this roaming about is not going to be sustained even in the Northern part of the country. And this is because of the increase in the population and because of the challenges in the Climate change…Discover _More
Leave a Reply