FG To Rehabilitate 417 Grazing Reserves Nationwide

The Federal Government has announced plans to rehabilitate 417 grazing reserves nationwide and establish modern ranching settlements in six major conflict-prone areas to end farmers-herders clashes.

Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, disclosed this on Tuesday after briefing President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on his ministry’s activities and progress implementing the National Ranching Policy.

He identified Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Adamawa states, along with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as priority areas because of their history of farmers-herders conflicts.

Maiha said a pilot scheme has already begun at the Wase Grazing Reserve in Plateau State to test the new livestock production model, which is designed to reduce cattle movement, one of the main triggers of rural conflict.

“Why don’t you provide these resources and stop these animals from moving? Human beings can move; they don’t cause crises. It’s the animals’ movement that normally generates this crisis,” he said.

Maiha said the Ministry of Livestock Development, created in July 2024 to modernise the sector, has since encouraged about 20 states to establish similar ministries or agencies, strengthening prospects for federal-state collaboration since much of the land needed for ranching falls under state control.

He said the ministry is consulting pastoral communities and roughly 34 organisations to secure support for the shift from nomadic livestock production to ranching, and has met with pastoralists led by the Grand Patron of Miyetti Allah and Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, with another meeting scheduled within two weeks.

Ranching Settlements Will Include Clinics, Schools And Solar Power

Maiha said nomadic livestock production has become unsustainable because grazing routes have disappeared due to farming, urbanisation and infrastructure development.

He said the government would promote commercial pasture cultivation, allowing grass to be grown within livestock settlements or harvested elsewhere and transported to the animals, alongside breed improvement that would let herders keep fewer but more productive animals.

The ranching model would transform grazing reserves into economic communities with housing, veterinary clinics, schools, healthcare facilities, solar power and earth dams for pasture irrigation.

“At the end of the day, each of those grazing reserves will become an economic hub,” he said, adding that milk processors, modular abattoirs and biodigesters would be attracted to the settlements.

Maiha said consultations with pastoralists have so far met no resistance, since nomadism is no longer sustainable, and announced plans to introduce radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, electronic ear tags carrying identification and geolocation data, to establish livestock ownership and build a national database for tracking animals.

He said the government has built seven model veterinary clinics and plans at least one model veterinary hospital in every state, while encouraging investment in modern abattoirs, large-scale dairy projects and commercial fodder production for local consumption and export.