Over 70 percent of Botswana’s population lives in rural areas and earns a living from agriculture. Because of the dry climate, livestock production dominates agricultural activities.
Although both Nigeria and Botswana have a rich history of pastoral agriculture, unlike Nigeria, Botswana as a nation has decided that there must be a change in its method of animal husbandry.
Bostwana currently has more cattle than human population, but the country has adopted a ranching technique similar to the one practiced in South Africa, Australia, and Argentina.
Most of its ranches are medium- and large-sized cattle ranches fitted with a flavour of modern global dairy practice.
The ranching initiatives are mostly driven by the private sector.
Apart from being a major source of dairy products, these ranches create thousands of jobs for the Botswana people and also function as tourist centres.
Experts say Nigeria can adopt the framework to tackle its farmer/herder conflicts while addressing issues of climate change as a lasting solution to the decades-long conflicts.
While it is important to build ranches, some experts say this should be undertaken by individuals.
“Ranching is good and it is the solution to Nigeria’s farmers/herders crisis but it should be a private investment and not the government setting up ranches,” Henry Olatujoye, national president, National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria.
“Ranching is a business and should be treated as such in Nigeria. The Federal Government is the problem of the farmers/herders crisis. The government have no business establishing ranches for herders. All they need to do is provide the environment for investors to invest in ranches,” Olatujoye said.
Nigeria recently unfolded a 10-year National Livestock Plan as a way of checking incessant clashes between farmers/herders which have claimed innumerable lives and properties.
Also, the government announced moves to create 94 ranches in 10 pilot states under the Plan and has budgeted a whopping N179billion for the project.
About N70 billion of the budget will be disbursed between now and the expiration of the Buhari’s first term in office.
But a lot of stakeholders applauded the move of establishing ranches but noted it must be a private sector investment while the government provides the enabling environment.
Chryss Onwuka, professor of ruminant animal nutrition and president, Nigerian Society for Animal Production said “within the confines of the ranch, the animals can be sustained. You will be sure you can get feed and water for them, providing all these within the ranch. This will minimise the movement outside the ranch in search of water and feed, in the course of which destruction of farmlands and communal clashes occur.”
“In their nomadic herdsmen tradition, once their fields start thinning out and water becomes less available, they start moving towards regions where there is enough food and water. And all these tell on their cattle energy which in turn reflects on their weight gain, bringing about weight losses which they had hoped to gain by moving,” Onwuka said.
“The little potential they have for weight gain is lost in the course of transiting from one place to another. If they were sedentary, then their restricted movement would have translated into weight gain,” he sai
