The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has blamed climate change for the worsening farmers-herders’ clashes in the country.
Abbas stated this yesterday in Abuja while speaking at a stakeholders’ forum on the impact of climate change on farmer-herder clashes in Nigeria, organised by the deputy chairman, House Committee on Environment, Tersee Ugbor.
The Speaker, who was represented by the member representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency of Benue State, Dickson Takighir, said there was a need to adopt global trends in farming as part of efforts to address the challenge.
Abbas, while stating that the President Bola Tinubu administration created the livestock ministry in an effort to have a federally coordinated approach towards animal husbandry, said the Land Use Act places some limitations on the Federal Government.
“Climate change is a topic that has commanded huge global attention for its many effects on life here on earth. Farmer-Herder clashes have had a similar troubling prominence in our country. One has exacerbated the challenges of the other.
“As someone from one of the hotspots (Kaduna) of the farmer-herder clashes, I am not new to the subject. Indeed, it is true that in many parts of the country, farming communities have been deserted with terrible repercussions on food security.
“Climate change has worsened the farmer-herder challenges. Farmers and herders alike, now compete for less resources from which to draw crops and fodder. Distortions in rainfall patterns being the result of climate change, have led to desertification. In search of greener pasture, herders have continued to migrate and into farming communities.
“Statistics suggest that ranching has become the way to go. The numbers in cattle and in the profits from countries that ranch cattle make questionable our continued romance with nomadic husbandry of cattle.
“However, the transition from nomadic herding to ranching, poses challenges in cultural attachment, ignorance, lack of capital, lack of political will and lack of national legislation. There is, therefore, a need to chart a nationally acceptable direction towards international best practices in the cattle industry.”
Ugbor called for collaborative efforts to address the challenge, noting that, “In the heart of West Africa, a relentless transformation is unfolding, driven by the invisible hand of climate change.
“Across the Sahel region, the once verdant pastures that sustained nomadic herders for centuries are succumbing to the encroaching desert, their vitality sapped by rising temperatures and erratic rainfall. This ecological upheaval has set in motion a wave of migration, as herders are compelled to venture southward in search of sustenance for their livestock.”