The herd rush to meet their owner Alhaji Aminu Jauro as he entered the fenced ranch, as they usually do whenever he brings in the Napier grass to feed them. Insert - He inspect his plantation

Jalingo - In Nigeria, conflicts between farmers and pastoral herdsmen is widespread due to the growing population, climate change effects and other factors causing competition for natural resources. This has led to large-scale displacements, loss of lives and properties, economic hardships and threat to food security.

Alhaji Aminu Jauro, a herder from Jalingo in Taraba State, is one of more than 1 800 farmers and herders empowered with knowledge on alternative animal feeds production through the ‘Integrated Approach to Building Peace to Farmers-Herders Crisis’ project piloted in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States. It aimed to strengthen interdependence between the farmers and herders to curb violence. Another 7 850 farmers and herders are indirectly benefitted from the project in the three states.

Jauro did not know that he could actually cultivate grass for his animals as an alternative feedstock. Each year he would take his cows and goats to open lands and valleys for grazing. At some point, this caused destruction to farmers’ crops.

“Getting grass for feeding the animals was so difficult especially during the dry seasons. At times we lost some of our animals. We were even forced to sell some at throw-away prices due to poor health,” he recalls.  

However, this is now history. After attending a special training on alternative feeds production, he now owns a farm – Hajuro Farm where he cultivates Napier grass for his animals. He also sells the surplus.

“Look at our cows,” he said while pointing at his herd, “We are just coming out of the dry season, but they all look healthy, unlike the case before. The Napier grass has really sustained them.”

According to Jauro, this has also positively impacted milk. “Good feeding has also helped them to produce more milk as well, from two liters to six or seven liters a day per cow on average,” he joyously discloses.

He now plans to expand his half-hectare grass-legume plantation located in the Mallam-Audu area also in Taraba State, to three hectares.

Jauro said the cattle are within a ranch and are fed with the Napier grass daily, “There are no more conflicts with farmers. I cultivate my own fodder,” he says.

Coordinated by the United Nations in Nigeria, the project was jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women and the UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR) with funding from the Peace Building Support Office (PBSO).

Other project goals included the re-demarcation and beaconing to ease land accessibility and the establishment of water systems for human and animal consumption.

While admitting that the Napier grass was not known to most farmers in Mallun, Ardo Kola local government area in Taraba state, Rejoice Suman Simon a subsistence farmer, said the alternative feeds have helped her animals. “With the maize, I planted using the hydroponics system, between eleven to twelve days, they are mature enough to feed the animals,” she says.

She now takes care of the 23 goats that the family owns, and throughout the dry season, the animals were fed on the alternative feeds, most derived from her farm yields.

For Jibrilla Umar, a herder from Yakoko in Zing Local government area, says he no longer endures difficulties in grazing his animals.  “The skirmishes with farmers are gone. Previously, whenever we went out to graze animals, quarrels will erupt. The training by FAO on the alternative feedlot has brought about a transformation in our community,” he says.

The project also drilled solar-powered boreholes for supplying water to people and animals in seven villages.

Muntari Suleiman, a Village Head in Sanseni, a community within the Mayo Kam Reserve in Taraba State says: “The provision of water for the community is a welcome development. This had existed only in their dreams. No one believed that access to water could be made so easy.”

“Our prayer is that Allah grants us a peaceful coexistence in Nigeria,” he concludes.

Related Link

http://www.fao.org/emergencies/fao-in-action/projects/detail/en/c/1191226/ 

Contacts

Emmanuel Kihaule                                      David Tsokar                               Opeyemi Olagunju

Communications Specialist                          Communications Specialist            Communications/Reporting Officer 

FAO Nigeria                                                FAO Nigeria                                 FAO Nigeria – North East Sub Office

[email protected]                     [email protected]                 [email protected]