The Ekiti State Government is dedicated to actively engaging with farmers and herders to prevent conflicts and enhance food security.
During a two-day training session for the state Peace Committee for Farmers and Herders, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ebenezer Boluwade, ensured that the state would take appropriate actions to promote peaceful coexistence between crop farmers and herders.
The training, themed “Conflict, Dialogue and Resolution to Promote Social Cohesion Between Crop Farmers and Livestock Farmers,” was coordinated by the Ekiti State Coordinating Office of Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project, a World Bank initiative being implemented by the Federal Government and Ekiti State.
Attendees at the event included traditional leaders, market vendors, crop and livestock farmers affiliated with Miyetti Allah, leaders of the Fulani community, religious figures, and various security agencies such as the Nigeria Army, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Department of State Service, Amotekun Corps, Ekiti Agro Rangers, and Marshals, among others.
The state has previously experienced instances of farmland destruction by cattle and resulting conflicts between crop farmers and herders. Boluwade emphasized that the establishment of the peace committee was primarily aimed at ensuring peace in the communities.
He noted, “The aim is to ensure that we enjoy peace and tranquillity in our farmsteads. At the farmsteads, we have people rearing animals and people cultivating crops.
“In Nigeria, we have issues of herders and farmers clashes here and there. So, what we are trying to do in Ekiti is to be proactive and resolve it amicably, so that every sector will work on its own without impacting negatively on the other.
“If you are rearing your animals, rear them so that you would not become an endangered species or cause trouble within your community.
“The whole purpose is to promote food security. The training is about capacity building, getting exposure, sensitisation and also sending the message down to the real actors that things must be done in the right ways.
“You can’t leave your animals to go on the free range and destroy people’s farms. Those things are not welcomed in the new Ekiti State that we are.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Olugbenga Odesanmi, commended Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s efforts to enhance food security in Ekiti State, acknowledging the progress made by successive governments in the livestock sector.
He encouraged livestock farmers to adopt the modern and hygienic practices of Promasidor Farms in Ikun Ekiti, where hundreds of cattle are raised without encroaching on farmlands.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria in Ekiti State, Adebola Alagbada, attributed the current high food prices to the ongoing clashes between farmers and herders, emphasizing the need for peaceful coexistence.
He elaborated, “This programme is coming at the right time because we need to step down the inflation rate in the country.
“The state government deeming it fit to bring the herders and farmers together is a beautiful arrangement. We have been trying to stem this crisis, but what we are lacking, which this government is ready to do now is to make laws. With this effort, we think a beautiful result will come out of it.”
On his part, the Chairman, Miyetti Allah in Ekiti State, Mohammed Nasamu, said, “The goal of both groups, as business people, is to prosper and not to suffer losses.
“The peace committees at the local government and state levels comprising farmers, herders and security agencies will stop the migrant cattle rearers that are always responsible for the crises in the state.
“Oyebanji has done well by meeting farmers and herders and bringing us together to know one another as human beings engaging in business.
“None of us naturally wants trouble or problem with his business or with the community where he transacts business. This is a welcome development,” the Miyetti Allah chairman mentioned.
