By Gabriel Olawale & Jannifer Aladetan

The President-Elect, Mohammadu Buhari has been urged to wade into the long-standing war between farmers and cattle rearers in the northern part of the country. Making the call in Lagos weekend, National President of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, NVMA, Dr. Edgar Sunday, said an intervention by Buhari would put a decisive end to the spate of clashes between the warring parties.

*Cattle

Sunday, who spoke during an activity to mark the 2015 World Veterinary Day, said the government had the capacity and requisite resources, implored the President Elect to display the necessary political will needed to prioritise the issue.

“The frequent clash between the farmers and the cattle rearers mostly in northern part of the country has claimed many lives and property, but there are simple methods that can be adopted to end the fight and in turn increase the productivity level of livestock.

Rearing Animals

“Naturally there are three different ways of rearing animal stock like cows, sheep and goats. These are the intensive, semi-intensive and extensive rearing programmes. What the Fulani cattle rearers are currently practising is the extensive programme, meaning they are reared in the open. Whenever they exhaust the green pasture in that particular environment, they move to other areas.”

Sunday noted that the constant moving from one place to another denied the livestock the necessary and basic nutrition and mineral required to produce optimally but also expose them to environmental hazard. “These animals are also exposed to different environmental hazard and this in-turn diminishing their level of productivity.

But when animal is under intensive care they tend to produce well, the more comfortable they are the more productive they become. It is possible to reduce the number of cattle and increase the productivity. For instance, at the moment European country has fewer cattle than they have 30 years ago and they are sufficient. We can also improve the productive capacity of our breeding through genetic engineering.

On his part, the Chairman of the Lagos state branch of the Association, Dr. Mobolaji Alao, expressed willingness to partner with government in the area of public health and security of the nation.

“In advanced countries, dogs are used to detect bombs, narcotics among other, so there is need for recruitment of veterinary doctors in some of our conventional security structures like the Army and Police because the number of experts there presently is not encouraging. Also there is need for proper law on the way animals are to be slaughtered, processed and transported,” he added.