The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has revealed the reason for farmers and herders clashing in the country, News About Nigeria reports.
He disclosed this while speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the House Committee on Environment, which premiered a documentary on climate change and farmer-herder conflicts in Benue State.
He noted that climate change is one of the major contributions to farmer-herder clashes in Nigeria, adding that outdated practices have contributed to the clashes and stressing the importance of global trends in farming and animal husbandry.
The speaker, who was represented by the member representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency of Benue State, Hon. Dickson Takighir, also emphasised the need to adopt modern farming and herding methods to address the challenges posed by climate change.
According to him, there is a need to get rid of outdated herding and farming methods and adopt global trends in farming amidst climate change.
He further noted that the Land Use Act puts limitations on how far the Federal Government and the National Assembly can go to make the changes required to address the situation.
“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. The 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 fewer 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 pastures, herders have continued to migrate into farming communities,” he stated.
