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Cows may cost N2m each if Lagos passes anti-open grazing law – Miyetti Allah

Athony Iwuoma

A  pass the proposed anti-open grazing law, the South-West zonal Secretary  of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), Maikudi Usman, has warned.

Speaking during a one-day public cowhearing organised by the state House of Assembly on the anti-open grazing bill, Usman said ranching as being proposed by the government was a capital intensive project beyond the reach of his members.

He said: “If cattle are bred in one place, the price could go up to about two million naira each. We agreed with some local chiefs in other states that anyone who wants to rear cows in a location should register and should indicate when he is leaving.”

According to him, moving cattle from one location to another remained the best approach, adding: “Our breeders are not used to breeding cattle in one place. They move from here to another place. When we say we will keep cattle in one place, the owner of the cattle will not have funds to feed the animals in one place.

“We are pleading with the Lagos State government to give us more time to go tell our people and train them how they will be breeding cattle in one place and not encroach on farmers’ land,” he said.

Furthermore, the MACBAN leader requested the state government to subsidise the cost of raising the cows in one location and absolved his members of involvement in the destruction of people’s farms, among sundry criminal activities, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

“A Fulani man moves from one place to another to ply his trade, but we have some bad eggs that are fomenting trouble,” he said.

“The government should allow us to tell our people that they don’t want our cows to destroy people’s farmlands,” he pleaded.

“We have met with stakeholders in Ekiti, Ondo and even Oyo States and we reached agreements with them.”

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