AN ASSESSMENT OF THE OPEN GRAZING PROHIBITION AND RANCHES ESTABLISHMENT POLICY IN TARABA STATE

Abstract

Farmers and herders have coexisted for centuries all over the world. Increased competition for natural resources, on the other hand, has resulted in farmer-herder clashes across Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria has 18.4 million cattle, with 13 million owned by households. Livestock accounts for 21% of agriculture's Gross Domestic Product. In Nigeria, there is a demand-supply imbalance in the dairy and meat sectors. The livestock sub-sector faces numerous challenges, including limited water and land resources. In order to reduce the violence between farmers and herders Government introduced ranches policy in Nigeria. This study assess the effect of ranches policy in Nigeria. Journals, newspapers, books, as well as information from several policy documents (from the Federal and State Ministry of Agriculture) served as secondary sources for the data used in this study. Thomas Homer-Dixon (1999) Environmental Scarcity Theory offers theoretical flavor Findings show that as open grazing is out of date, ranching is becoming more and more popular as a solution to the ongoing farmers/herders conflict. The study suggests establishing sustainable cow ranching in various states amongst others, across the states, the laws limiting open grazing must be examined in order to broaden and include the legislative process. State officials would be responsible for ensuring the involvement and participation of all parties in the process, Ensure effective law enforcement, state authorities should include local traditional and religious institutions, as well as community vigilante and neighborhood watch groups, whose roles in conflict resolution have grown in importance in the face of escalating insecurity and state failure and the legislation should address the core causes of the
conflicts, particularly the issues caused by open grazing, particularly in rural places where governmental presence is waning.