The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has declared its opposition to open grazing, stating that the practice is no longer sustainable across Nigeria.
Speaking on Tuesday during a one-day stakeholders’ engagement and launch of the AgroPastoral Integration for Peace and Sustainable Development (AIPASD) project, MACBAN’s Secretary in Benue, Ibrahim Galma, said insecurity, climate change, farm destruction, and cattle rustling have made open grazing impractical.
Galma assured that MACBAN would support the project to achieve its aim of having peace in Benue state, noting that the association had been part of the project from its pilot stage.
“The position of MACBAN is that we are fully in support of this project from the beginning and we are going to be in this project to the end.
“Now that the project has been expanded within Guma and Makurdi Local Government Areas, LGAs, key stakeholders in the areas should be involved, and we should also have a local committee comprising the Ardos and traditional rulers to help the pastoralists get knowledge of how to live peacefully with farmers.
“We now know quite well that open grazing is not sustainable, not only in Benue state but in Nigeria in general.
“And from all indications, we have come to understand that there is a need for us to adapt to the reality because of the growing population, the challenge of insecurity and the climatic conditions are adversely affecting our rural communities,” he said.
Speaking, the Benue State Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Peter China, lamented that for eight years, most farmers in the state could not access their farms due to the herders crisis.