Nation
Destruction of Farmlands: Onu seeks end to open grazing in Abia
The Chief Veterinary Officer and Director of Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance, Abia State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Nwokedi Onu has decried the menace of moving cattle openly along streets and roads, and the trend of open grazing which is practiced in the state.
Onu who stated this in Umuahia while speaking to newsmen on Tuesday, also condemned in strong terms, the wanton destruction of farms and crops by cattles which has resulted in frequent Herder/Farmer clashes in different parts of the state and the county at large.
He said, “It is an unfunny situation because people who have these cattle supposed to hedge them in or in ranches or an enclosure where they have pastures to manage or where you can cut forage or feed log and bring to them or you may decide to feed them with grains. But here we have a lot of grasses, you can feed them with.”
“Unfortunately, you see them roaming about, destroying what people have planted in their farms and this is not a very good thing to do.”
“Here in the ministry of agriculture, we have had a lot of farmers and herders dispute, where cows destroy people’s crops.”
“Now that the government is talking about food security, food to feed the masses, the cost of food is very high. How can we achieve it if the crops are destroyed by cows?”
Dr Ọnụ also pointed out the health factor of open grazing, saying it endangers public health.
“It poses a lot of risk to human health because as they are moving about, most of them urinate or defecate along the road, and when it rains, the run offs carry them to streams where people fetch water. Sometimes they go to the streams and rivers to drink and they urinate or defecate into the water which some other people from down the river may fetch and drink.”
“Apart from health issues, it has environmental issues, because the hooves loosen the soil, making it prone to soil erosion and when the top soil is eroded, the soil nutrients go with it.”
On the issue of RUGA, proposed by the administration of Former President Mohammadu Buhari, Dr Onu questioned the motive behind the idea.
He acknowledged that RUGA would have gone a long way in solving the problem of open grazing, but added that the proposal would have led to land acquisition by foreigners.
He recalled that delegates from the federal government who visited him in his office for the RUGA initiative, suggested that the initiative be owned and operated by the state government while the federal government provide the funding, which was outrightly rejected by the then federal government.
Contributing, Mr Victor Nnaemeka Obasi, who is a Director in the Department of Livestock and Fisheries, vehemently condemned open grazing.
He opined that animals should be confined to a particular place where forage would be brought to them, stressing that it is an aberration for a Herder to damage farm produce of a farmer who has spent resource and time nurturing it.
In his words, “You can see the conflict farmers and herders are facing because it is open grazing. Assuming these animals are confined, you will find a situation where the farmers and herders will live amicably.”
“But when you allow open grazing, it then means that anything can happen. The animals can go at will to people’s farms to destroy crops. And you know it has multiplying effect.
“Think of the investment that the owner of the farm has put in the farm, then you go there and see that everything you put there has been eaten up by cows. The person may even die because you have invested everything you have in the farm.”
He also appreciated the RUGA initiative but faulted what would have been the outcome of the implementation which he said would have amounted to land grabbing.
