Eliminating cattle rustling, developing cattle ranches: Killing ‘two cows’ with one stone

Nigeria has been estimated to have 19 million cattle herds, which on a conservative estimation of N100, 000 per cattle translates to N1.9 trillion. The cattle market is indeed filled with immense potential, not only for beef but also dairy production.

Meeting the growing consumption needs of millions of Nigerians, as insurgency abates in the Northeast has also become pertinent in view of over dependence on cattle supplies from neighbouring countries.

As experts have observed, Nigeria mostly imports cattle from other countries for local consumption as locally bred herds are unable to meet consumption needs. 70% of the cattle business in Nigeria relies on herd being brought from; Cameroun, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and even Benin Republic.

Akinwumi Adesina, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, had projected an increase in beef consumption in the country from 360,000 tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes by 2050.

Lagos alone, according to Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos state, is currently consuming 6,000 herds of cattle daily, which may increase to 8,000 in the next five years, and this translates to present consumption of 2.19 million cattle annually in the state.

Boko Haram violence and Cattle Rustling

Violence in the north, particularly the Northeast, which is a prominent route of the cattle trade in Nigeria, has impacted significantly on the prospects of the cattle business. The insurgency created a fertile ground for cattle rustling which has constituted a threat to the cattle market in the country.

Cattle theft has long been reported as a problem in the North; however, the general insecurity caused by the Boko Haram sect had emboldened seasoned rustlers and other criminal elements that have taken advantage of the insecurity to cause havoc. It has also been reported that Boko Haram itself engages in cattle rustling; proceeds from which it uses to fund its operations.

“Our security agencies have reasonably established that most of the cattle being traded at the markets were the direct proceeds of cattle rustling perpetrated by Boko Haram insurgents which were sold at prohibitive costs to unsuspecting customers through some unscrupulous middlemen who use underhand ploy to deliberately disguise the transactions as legitimate,” said Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State while placing an embargo on indiscriminate sale of meat to curtail the possibility of Boko Haram generating revenue through cattle rustling.

Advancements by the military in the war against terrorism particularly in the northeastern part Nigeria, a prominent route of the cattle trade, is gradually restoring confidence in the cattle market as stakeholders have expressed optimism that the market will return to full operations in the near future.

Abdulrahaman Girei, head of the Adamawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry while observing that the cattle market has been terribly affected especially in Mubi, Maiduguri, Damaturu and other places, noted that with the gradual defeat of the Boko Haram sect, “It is confidence building that is most important now.”

Girei explains that there has been loss of confidence from people coming from Cameroun and other neighbouring countries to trade cattle in Nigeria, observing that with successes being recorded through military operations, “The market is picking up a bit [and] as soon as things calm down properly, the market should be back in full swing.”

“Border patrol needs to be properly installed, and invariably, these things are measures of confidence; it is not sufficient to no longer hear about Boko Haram, but people should be confident that their security is guaranteed when they come to trade in Nigeria, without any fear of harassment,” Girei added.

Alimi Bello, President of the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture lamented that “majority of the cattle we consume (in Nigeria) come from the neighbouring countries and Maiduguri (which has been largely hit by insurgency) happens to be one of the largest in cattle markets… the cattle come from neighbouring towns from Chad through Dikowa, through Gamboru Ngala, then to Maiduguri market. But even in Chad itself, the market has not regained its proper footing.”

“With the containment of the insurgency, of course there is hope…Maiduguri presently experiences more activity than in previous months, and it is indicative that life is beginning to return to normal. In few weeks to come, businesses should experience more normalcies,” said Bello.

Cattle Ranching to the Rescue

The incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in different parts of the country is assuming a worrisome trend like the Boko Haram carnage that is being gradually suppressed, and necessitating calls for introduction of proper ranches for the cattle rearing business in Nigeria.

Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said earlier this year, that the Federal Government would create grazing areas in the country, where the herdsmen would take care of their cattle. “We will grow grass in the South to feed the cattle in the North, just as Saudi Arabia did,” he said.

The rationality of the proposal however remains doubtful as it is unknown how government intends to regulate large of expanse of land- where all manner of herdsmen will bring their cattle to graze.

With an estimated 19 million cattle heads valued at over N1.9 trillion, the cattle business has potentialities for significant growth, if ranches can be introduced, experts say.

The decision by herdsmen to migrate in search of greener pastures has also been described as counterproductive. The northsouth movement, and later the southnorth movement in search of pasture, consistently leads to losing whatever weight has been gained during grazing periods. In the dry season, cattle could potentially lose as much as 50 percent of their weight, if there is no adequate feeding.

“Within the confines of the ranch, the animals can be sustained. You will be sure you can get feed and water for them, providing all these within the ranch. That then will minimise the movement outside the ranch in search of water and feed, in the course of which destruction of farmlands and communal clashes occur,” says Chryss Onwuka, a professor of ruminant animal nutrition and president of the Nigerian Society for Animal Production.

“In their [nomadic herdsmen] tradition, once their fields start thinning out and water becomes less available, they start moving towards regions where there is enough food and water. And all these tell on their [cattle] energy, which in turn reflects on their weight, gain; bringing about weight losses that they had hoped to gain by moving. The little potential they have for weight gain is lost in the course of transiting from one place to another. If they were sedentary, then their restricted movement would have translated into weight gain,” Onwuka says

Olufemi Onifade, a professor of Forage and Agronomy explains, “for those who may want to go into cattle ranching, it is an encompassing business which requires a large area of land depending on the number of animals likely to be kept.

When the land has been acquired, it is important to have feed for the animals. One of the feeds they can provide for the animals is through growing grasses for pasture. They can plant the grasses depending on the number of animals and the grazing method they want to adopt.”

Cattle in ranches can be fed through three major methods, the continuous grazing, where cows are in the same paddock for the whole grazing season; rotational grazing where cows are rotated around several pastures, usually on a set rotation; and lastly, the Management Intensive Grazing (MIG), where cows are moved to a new paddock only when it has fully regrown.

Feeding for the cattle has been a contentious issue, which according to reports has culminated into the federal government considering importation of grasses for pasture cultivation in Nigeria.

According to Onifade however, “the report should actually be seed that will be imported, not grasses. If they get maybe 10kg of seed, it can cover 1 or 2 hectares of land, and it is something that can keep replicating.”

“In furtherance to that, my take is that since we don’t have enough seeds in the country for now, if a little importation is done (it is ok for now) but subsequently, we in the country should be able to produce what we want, so that we can create employment for our teeming youth population, and develop capacity for producing seeds because the countries we are to import seeds from, we have larger areas of land than they have, so why can’t we also produce the seeds and send it to them?” Onifade asks rhetorically.

Onifade further explains, “there is the complimentary model where sown pasture may not be the sole source of feed. People can plant maize, and after harvesting the corns, it can be conserved for animals during the offseason. Some private farms produce the maize but will not allow the crops to mature for human consumption before they will preserve it for the animals. Some may take off the corns and immediately they have done that, they preserve the remnant; however, it may not be as high quality as the one that has cubs in it.”

Call for Action

As BusinessDay reports have shown, herdsmen recently attacked Benue, Enugu, Bayelsa, Ekiti, and Adamawa among others, sacking farmers and destroying agro raw materials such as oranges, mangoes, pineapples, cassava, pears, tomatoes, grains, oil seeds, wheat and other commodities that serve as inputs for manufacturers in the food and beverage industry.

The incessant clashes between mostly Fulani herdsmen and host communities where they take their cattle to graze may further hamper a free cattle trade, as continued hostilities could make it difficult for the cattle migration routes to remain sustainable. Needless to say that the carnage these attacks cause is adversely affecting agricultural production in the country.

Caleb Ojewale