Ekiti State Government has commenced training livestock farmers from the 16 local council areas of the state on the production of pastures for cattle to curb farmers-herders’ clashes.
 
The government said pasture business had the potential to provide sustainable jobs for unemployed youths in areas of establishment, zero grazing (cut and carry), hay and silage making, preservation and storage of hay, among others.
 
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Ebenezer Boluwade, spoke yesterday at a training on business models for pasture development, organised by the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) in Ado-Ekiti.
 
According to him, to mitigate the herders’ menace and create economic opportunities from the threats, “it is high time to strategically create a business model for pasture development suitable to meet the needs of herders and cattle owners in our local government areas.
 
“I  strongly believe that this training will expose our participants to business opportunities in the area of pasture production and development that are yet to be explored; these include conversion of idle lands to viable forage lands for grasses and legumes, storage of excess grasses grown during the raining season for use during the off season to bridge the nutritional inadequacies gap experienced during the off season, learn various methods of processing forages for optimal use by our livestock as well as different storage techniques.”

In his remarks on the occasion, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Ebenezer Babatope, said the agricultural sector was the cornerstone of the nation’s economy, providing livelihoods and sustenance to a large portion of the population.
 
“However, it faces numerous uncontrolled challenges which include grazing of arable crops by ruminant animals due to farmers/herders’ clashes, disruption in the feed supply chain due to scarcity of forages in grazing, most especially during the dry season,” he said.
 
In his speech, the Project Coordinator of Ekiti L-PRES, Mr Adeyinka Adedipe, said that as a way of getting herders involved, they have been enlisted as trainees.
 
According to the Lead Consultant, Mr Hakeem Ajeigbe, agriculture in the 21st century is different from the way it was done in the past, saying that the Nigerian population is about 300 million with the same land available for a smaller population than before.
 
“We are using more land for housing because of our population. It means we must intensify, and if so, we must modernise. The most important aspect that carries 70 per cent of livestock is the production of feed.”