Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom on Thursday said Abuja is the only Federal Capital Territory in the world where cows are allowed to move freely and graze on beautification flowers that government spent so much money to plant.
The governor who believed in ranching expressed dismay that cattles are allowed to move freely and enchroach into people’s farms.
Ortom stated this through a virtual conferencing during the Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, FCT chapter, stating that Nigeria has less than 20 million cattle which could also be easily ranched.
“Unfortunately, the cows are allowed to either roam the streets freely or encroach on people’s farms and other investments creating all sorts of social and economic sabotage.
He stressed that farmers and animal husbandry could increase production using modern technology of ranching instead of allowing cattles to destroy people’s farms.
“With arable land of just 2% and population less than 9% that of Nigeria, the Ranches and Animal Husbandry Agriculture subsector of The Netherlands exported meat worth over 21 billion EUROs, (about 9 trillion Naira), between 2016 and 2018 only.
“Ranching by law and policy therefore, if properly implemented in our country, will also yield similar results and have great positive impact on our economic diversification dreams and our food security.“
