FG Plans National Conference On Farmers/Herdsmen Clash

The federal government through the Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has revealed plans to host a national
conference to address farmers/ herdsmen clashes.
The Minister who stated this when he received a summary report rising
from a policy dialogue on transformation of grazing reserves to ranches
in Abuja yesterday said “We have been working on a major national issue
that has been of concern to all of us, the issue of herdsmen and
farmers clashes and the big question of grazing reserves and ranches”.
Ogbeh said “We are targeting June this year for a major national
conference on this matter and that conference will bring in all
stakeholders, including the very angry farmers, the policy
makers(governors), the security agents , Ministry of Agric, Miyetti
Allah and all other stakeholders”
“We are not silent on the matter, we are concerned about ending this
crises and applying every possible means of solving the problems, so
this society can be happier and see cattle rearing as something of
benefit to Nigeria, noting that in Holland 25 per cent of the land mass
is ranching, that is why it is the largest diary exporter to the rest of
the world. Ours doesn’t have to be a source of conflict”
“All of us rather than quarrel and disagree will seat together and
analyse this matter to solve the problem and we will solve the problems
by looking at all the dimensions, the difficulties and all  the
possibilities which exist” he said
The minister said “We need the cows, the milk and the skins, we were
exporting the skins before, Nigeria, was a major hide and skin exporter,
we need the farms to grow food, but we do not need the conflicts”.
He noted that “the team had looked at all the existing grazing
reserves about 415 in the country and why they are no longer functioning
, trans humans trafficking, how to identify them and control their
movements”Presenting the report to the minister Programme Assistant,
Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Nigeria, Dr Rabe Mani said “the
team had focused on four thematic areas including Access to Land for
Livestock Production, Access to Capital, Access to Markets and  
Recommendation Infrastructure, Input  and Manpower.