News in brief: The federal and Edo state governments in Nigeria are collaborating under the National Animal Identification and Traceable System (NAITS) to address farmer-herder clashes. The scheme aims to improve livestock productivity, prevent conflicts, and trace animals’ origins, with over 8,000 lives lost in such clashes since 2005.
The federal government of Nigeria and Edo state governments are working together to create a scheme that keeps the herdsmen and farmersâ clashes in the country in check. Both parties will work under the umbrella of the National Animal Identification and Traceable System (NAITS), which the Federal Ministry of Agriculture oversees.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food security of Edo state made the announcement in an engagement with stakeholders in Benin City, the stateâs capital. The meeting focused on animal identification processes and its inherent benefits, which becomes imperative in the light of unabated clashes between pastoralist herdsmen and farmers.
With the partnership in place, identification marks on cows would aid in detection in the case of straying. It helps to trace animals’ routes to determine where they came from.
The commissioner, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, said the scheme will help end these clashes. He also said it would boost livestock productivity as well as ensure acceptance abroad.
He added that the Edo state government under Governor Godwin Obaseki keyed into the scheme, as a means to end the cases of killings, kidnappings and farmland and sources of livelihood destruction. The Permanent Secretary further revealed that the scheme was also important because it was in tandem with governmentâs Making Edo Great Again (MEGA) project.
Participants at the meeting lauded the initiative, saying it was long overdue, based on the negative consequences the continued clashes had on the livelihood of citizens.
In the last decade, several rural communities in Nigeria have witnessed very bloody attacks between pastoralists and farmers, which are blamed on incursion of herders into farms. No fewer than 8,343 people have died between 2005 to 2022 due to farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria.
