Herdsmen Killings: Nigeria Agrees To Set Up Ranches In Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Seven Other States

The Federal Government has agreed with some states in Nigeria to set up cattle ranches in 10 states — Adamawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara to end herders, farmers’ crisis in the country.

It is believed that the 10 states are in the first phase of the national ranching project which is aimed to bring an end to the crisis between herdsmen and farmers in the affected states.

The agreement was reached on Tuesday in Abuja at the unveiling of the National Economic Council’s National Livestock Transformation Plan as part of efforts to end clashes between farmers and herdsmen.


While presenting the plan, the Secretary of the NEC Sub-Committee, Dr. Andrew Kwasari, said the Federal Government and states would spend N70bn in the first three years of the pilot phase of the programme.

He also said that N179bn would be spent over a period of 10 years on the national livestock implementation.

At the media briefing on Tuesday, Kwasari said, “The National Livestock Implementation Plan is a mediation stemming from meetings and recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and NEC in 2017 as regards state interventions following the incessant pastoralist-farmer conflicts.”

Kwasari disclosed that in April NEC approved the pilot implementation of the Federal Government-States Joint Ranching Policy as recommended by the sub-committee.

He stated, “A ranch design has also been proposed in models of various sizes clustered in 94 locations in the 10 pilot states.”