•A signal effort to bring order into the chaos in cattle grazing

Governor Ayodele Fayose’s recent signing into law of Ekiti State Assembly’s bill to prohibit cattle and other ruminants grazing randomly in Ekiti State marks an incipient effort to regulate centuries-old tradition of pre-modern cattle farming in the country. The law should be a call to other states and the Federal Government to come to terms with the imperatives of modern agriculture in the country.

The grazing law, which took effect from the day of signing, includes the following: mapping out lands in the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State for grazing; outlawing cattle, sheep, goats, and other ruminants grazing outside of lands designated for grazing and ranching in the state; restriction of movement of cattle, sheep, and goats by herdsmen to the hours between 7 am and 6 pm; and forbidding nomadic pastoralists from grazing with arms and other weapons and making violators subject to prosecution and imprisonment if found guilty.

As is expected in a federal democracy, the law has already ignited reactions from various sectors of the country. While spokespersons of states that had experienced loss of many lives: Ekiti, Benue, Plateau, Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Kaduna, and socio-cultural organisations such as Afenifere, Afenifere Renewal Group, and Ohaneze Ndigbo have hailed this law, others such as Arewa Consultative Forum have warned about dangers inherent in a state law that may contravene rights of citizens to movement in any part of the federation. Anti-grazing spokespersons are already warning that the constitution recognises the rights of citizens rather than the rights of cattle.

It is the view of our reporter that the law has raised important issues that deserve national attention and dialogue about the most effective way for Africa’s largest multiethnic democracy to sustain peaceful and harmonious co-existence of its various nationalities and their cherished values. Just as the constitution and all rights of citizens expect responsibilities on behalf of those exercising such rights, so is it important for those in positions of political leadership to consider the good intention to save lives and protect the environment as dispassionately as possible.

For too long, conflicts and clashes between farmers and nomadic pastoralists had caused avoidable tension in the country, pitting people in different sections of the country against each other. Killings of farmers by herdsmen and destruction of their farms, as well as killing of cattle by frustrated plant/vegetable farmers has gone on for too long and without identification and prosecution of people involved in such crimes. Such needless killings have obviously created unwarranted inter-ethnic fears in various sections of the country, which in turn have caused avoidable inter-ethnic suspicion and animosity.

Ekiti State’s attempt to regulate animal grazing is a needed step in the right direction, especially in its recognition of the need to formally designate specific areas for grazing and allocate such areas to properly documented cattle owners and their employees. The law, like all laws, may not be perfect. For example, charging carriers of unused arms and weapons with terrorism can scare non-criminal nomadic farmers from taking advantage of lawful grazing areas, but what the law signals must not be missed by federal and state lawmakers: regulation of activities that have the potential to lead to instability and loss of innocent lives, if left to go away on its own, as this problem has been for long. The grazing law should be seen for what it is: a call for action on all stakeholders for immediate rational response to a national problem that requires a high sense of responsibility and self-preservation by all.

Our reporter believes there is no better opportunity than the one presented by the grazing law to regulate an agricultural practice that is overdue for modernisation. Relatedly, the commitment of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to agricultural revolution through modernisation of all sectors of agriculture provides enough justification for re-orienting traditional animal farmers to accept new methods of cattle farming. Governments at all levels should encourage cattle owners to acquire land for ranching. The 21st century is not the time for those engaged in farming as private business to insist that tradition take precedence over modern methods of cattle breeding, from which large exporters of beef and dairy products, such as Argentina, South Africa, Canada, the United States of America, Australia and Mexico, have benefited immensely.

Change, as the old saying goes, is the only thing that is permanent in human affairs. Ekiti State has signalled to others that the challenge to improve animal farming through proper legislation and regulation should not be left to chance, as has been the case for too long at the expense of the country’s economy and inter-ethnic harmony.

Source: nation

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