FG to solve grazing problem in 4 months

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, yesterday said the federal government would surmount the current grazing problems within the next three or four months of the signing into law of the 2016 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said government was poised to developing a special grass for cattle grazing, such that the roaming in search of grass and water by herdsmen would be curtailed.

The minister, who appeared before the House of Representatives in the ongoing sectoral debate by the chamber, said very soon, the ministry would through an executive bill, forward to the National Assembly, a bill that would regulate the cattle roaming in the country.

“The only reason why cows roam is because there is no grass and water. If we can give a Fulani grass and water, a large number of them would not be roaming. Cows don’t like walking around. Cows want to eat and sleep. They don’t like walking from Maiduguri to Lagos. I assure you this violence has to end. That is why we have to develop a special grass for our cattle,” he said.  

“Nine states have written to me to develop grazing lands, they are ready to give 5,000 hectares of land. We intend to use boreholes to wet these areas. Grass is not grass, there are grasses and there are grasses,” he said.

While appealing to the lawmakers to make adequate budgetary provision for the ministry to enable it ameliorate challenges such as  grazing, Ogbeh lamented that the National Assembly had cut out N12.9 billion from the ministry’s 2016 budget.