Incessant Cattle Herders Invasion Is Affecting Us- Agro Investors Boss Lament

My name is Olufemi Abioye, I’m a commercial farmer, an investor, I’m also currently the President of the Igangan Agro Park Investors Association, (IAPIA).

Igangan Agro Park is a commercial farm that is situated in Igangan Community of Ibarapa North Local Government Area Of Oyo State, and the Park is fully registered as an agricultural hub under the state government.

As a commercial farmer, I farm on hectares of land, and the major challenge is the incessant invasion of the cattle herders that used to invade our farmland, they will come with their cows when nobody is on the farm, they will come to feed their cattle with our farm produce.

This incessant herders invasion is enough to scare us away from farming, but we don’t have any other means of livelihood than farming, that is why we are calling on government at all levels to please assist us at Igangan farm settlement.

Imagine a maize plantation that is on 10 hectares of land,  which we invested millions of naira, just got destroyed in less than two to three hours by 88 cows that were brought by some unknown Bororo cattle herders, how will you feel if you are the farmer?

This is not their first time, the Agro Park farmers in the State have been suffering from losses as a result of the lawlessness by the herders who only care about feeding their cows with our own farm produce and cash crops, the situation is not encouraging at all.

The only way out, Is for the government to come to our rescue, we cannot take the law into our hands, we usually report them to the law enforcement agency, this recent invasion was reported to the Police in Igangan, as well as the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, Alhaji Kadiri Saliu helped Police to trail the herders to the forest to see if we can get them arrested, but the team only succeeded in getting the cows but the herders were not found.

We have tried our best as individuals and as an investor,  we believe that it’s only government that can institutionalize a policy that can put a stop to this menace.

Anti-grazing law is to curtail the excess of those herders from using their cattle to feed on open land or farmland in the State but the situation is not so, as we still see them around with their cows.

I think the government need to set up a task force to that effect, any herder found going around with cows should be arrested. Anti grazing simply means that livestock farmers should be able to provide an adequate farm shed for their cattle to feed and not going around with cows with the aim of feeding them with farm produce, so if the government can help us by institutionalizing such policy it will make things better for both the livestock farmers and the cash crop farmers, and it will put an end to this invasion.

Amotekun Corps is going to work if government give them adequate support, I commend the efforts of the Southwest Governor’s for coming together for such an initiative, if given well support by the government, they will do well, what I’m trying to say is that the government can make use of the Corps as a task force that can be used to curtail the excesses of those herders.