To create sufficient ranching sites to accommodate the number of herders in Kaduna State, the Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that it would require N140 billion to make that a reality.
He said this to journalists on Tuesday at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing on the cost intensive project and the need for funding.
He said, “It is not a matter of populist legislation or saying that tomorrow this or that; it is not the solution. We have taken a position as northern states governors and we are implementing that.
“We cannot do it overnight. We need billions of naira. This is just one ranch that is costing N10 billion. I have 14 grazing reserves in Kaduna State and I would like to convince them into ranching. Do I have 14 times N10 billion? I don’t have.
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“In my state for instance, we are developing a huge ranch at Damao to centralise the herders and that is the solution (on the) long term. But can it be done overnight? No.
“This project that we are doing will cost us about ₦10 billion. The CBN is supporting us with about ₦7.5 billion and [it] will take about two years to do.
“We will be settling about 1,500 Fulani herders’ families and [I] hope they will see that there are alternative ways of producing livestock instead of running up and down with cattle and going to people’s farms and causing all kinds of problems.”
El-Rufai touched on the anti-grazing laws enacted in states, mostly in the south, describing it as unfeasible.
He argued that the idea of ranching for the livestock of the herders remained the best solution to the herders-farmers crisis in the country.
