Agriculture as defined is what people do both scientifically and as an art to produce food for mans use. Nigeria in Speaking is a verily blessed nation with a lot of Agricultural potentials ranging form crop production to Animal husbandry.
Still, the Nation is plague with a lot of food insecurities and crises Arising from mismanagement of scarce resources and poor enabling environment. when we look at mismanagement of resources we see the very fertile lands and rivers in Nigeria where there is little agricultural practices as result of communal crises such as the herdsmen clashes with the farmers and the cattle rustling of herdsmen cattle this is the current state of Nigerian Agricultural System.
Agriculture is not just a way of life of people, it is also a means of livelihood and improvement in standards of living. So when there are Crises in the much needed Agricultural sector then there is no way of life for some people and their means of livelihood and standard of living is affected.
These individuals whose life have been so altered by these communal crises such as the herdsmen attack and cattle rustling find their self declining in their standards of living and eventually can't afford the basic social amenities such as good drinking water, good roads, electricity, education, healthcare or event the right to live their life as they want to, they are always in constant fear of threats to their lives & properties as regards to their farming ventures.
Federal and State Government abilities to provide enabling environment for these Agriculturist practicing farming and animal husbandry has been a key issue in the development of Nigeria's Agricultural Sector. These enabling environment includes;
- good road that links to farms and markets
- security of our produce both,"both plants and animals" and one that causes damage to the produce have to bear the cost of that produce,
- processing & storage facilities there are so many agricultural products that goes bad as not way to preserve and store them,
- availability of serviceable loans with moderate interest rates such as the anchor borrowers program
- poor extension service, the Federal and State government has encourage much extension services for the pass decade as a result the extension field is dying out which is cause for alarm,
- poor appointment of agricultural staffs, we are in a country where under qualified staffs are appointed to a post they know much about which leads to their out right failure or poor performance of the sector such as appointing someone who didn't read agriculture to be a minister of agriculture or when extension services are needed and instead of agricultural extension workers being employed to further this service, Agricultural economics workers or marketers are employed for these job. it is best to appoint the best fit for the position.
- lack of good technology to implement modern day agriculture such as tractors, water sprinkler system, milking machines, tracking devices, ridgers etc.
Recent Solution such as cattle colonies/Ranching or Anti-grazing law that are established in some states are possible solutions but it has to be started no Agriculture is a business as well as life and no one is meant to bear the cost for another persons business. if anyone or state government want to create a cattle colony or put in place law to restrict cattle colonies it is good but it should be done right and not at the cost of the state and the lives of its citizens. We are all citizens of a state and our benefit and well-being should be considered first before that of Animals and Plants.
One solution which have not been considered and maybe cheaper is tracking. The farmers once they plant can not move their crops because they are stationary while the headmen are dynamic moving form region to region with their cattle's, if all the farms along the routes are tracked as well as the herdsmen & and their cattle. There by placing the routes of the farmland of the farmer of limits to the cattle herds. it will make it easier to control, investigate, and plan out possible routes that lead out of the farmland and if any herdsmen ventures into a farm land investigation can be quickly and effectively carried out and result backed with tracking evidence.
This i feel is much cheaper and less stress than the continuous clashes of farmers and herdsmen happening in mos part of Nigeria...
Odogbor Oghenefejiro
Agricventures.Ng
