The Plateau Government says arrangements have been concluded for the commencement of the ranching policy in some parts of the state.
Mr Joseph Lengman, the Director General, Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA), disclosed this at a roundtable tagged: “National Livestock Transformation Plan: Insight and Prospects” on Wednesday in Jos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting is part of the agency’s project, tagged: “Consolidating the Mechanism for Sustainable Cooperation and Transformation of Farmer/Herder Conflict in Plateau”, funded by the embassy of the United State of America.
According Lengman, the ranching policy is an offshoot of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) of the Federal Government, to be implemented in Plateau based on the peculiarities of the state.
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He explained that the pilot scheme would be sited on government’s lands at Wase and Kanam local government areas of the state.
“Plateau government has keyed into the National Livestock Transformation Plan. We have adopted the plan based on our peculiarities and context.
“So, very soon we are going to commence the implementation of the ranching policy as a pilot scheme in Wase and Kanam local governments.
“We are not going to take anybody’s land for the pilot scheme; we are going to use the land government had reserved for such purpose in the two localities.
“This is not RUGA, but ranching and we believe by the time we kick start and we see it working, other local governments will key in,” he said.
Presenting the huge advantages associated with the policy, Prof. John Wade, Director of Research and Strategic Communication, Government House, said the policy if implemented, would address the lingering farmer/herder clashes in the state.
Wade, a member of the NLTP implementation committee in the state, added that the ranching policy would attract huge economic, agricultural and social benefits to the state.
He also said that the policy would also address infrastructure deficit at the rural levels, promote peaceful coexistence in the state and curb insecurity as well.
Dr Sumaiya Hamza, Focal Person, Social Investment Programme in the state and member of the NLTP committee, said 80 enumerators for the ranching programme were already trained for the pilot scheme in the two localities.
NAN reports that the meeting had media practitioners, government agencies and NGOs as participants. (NAN)
