By: Andrew Essein
Date: November 14th 2016
Source: Leadership Nigeria
The effective and efficient deployement of land resources as a method to resolving the pesistant clashes between farmers and herdsmen has again come to the fore with stakeholders and policy makers in the lands and agricultural sector calling for collaboration in the application of the appropriate land governance laws towards mitigating the ugly trend.
This is even as it has become all the more important that government and the citizenry understand and administer tenure rights and the processes involved in acess to and transferring of such rights in accordance with the principles as contained in the Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible Governance of Tenure of Land (VGGT) and complimented by the Framework and Guidelines on land policy (F&G) on the African continent.
This was the thrust at the Stakeholder Consultative Workshop for the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), organized by the FAO in collaboration with LPI and in partnership with relevant Ministries such as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development and the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, on Monday in Abuja.
The FAO Representative in Nigeria, represented by Behanu Benadine while underscoring the need to find a lasting solution to the problem said “as you know, the conflicts between pastoralists and farmers is one of the developmental issues on land use, so this meeting is very important because resolving the conflicts, we can produce more which will ensure food security. Basically, avoiding conflicts will ensure food security and human development”
While responding to government’s role in resolving the crisis, the Minister of Power, Lands and Housing, represented by a director in the ministry, Olurotimi Onabanjo said that government is working assidiously to formulate the right policies and ensuring that they are implimented to the latter by all stackholders.
The workshop which brought policy makers from affected states, the leadershipof the farmers association and the Miyetti Allah Cattlebreeders also provided the platform for the presentation and validation of two recent studies supported by FAO on conflict between farmers and herdsmen, and on management of grazing reserves pastoralism for the review and validation by various stakeholders.
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Photo source: Bill and Nelle via Flickr/Creative Commons (CC By-NC-ND 2.0). Photo: © Bill and Nelle