South-South, South-East States’ Lawmakers say ‘NO’ to grazing reserve

NaijaAgroNet:

The first joint parliamentary session of South-East and South-south State Houses of Assembly ended in Owerri, Imo State, Friday with a declaration to prohibit grazing of cattle in the geo-zones in all ramifications, report NaijaAgroNet.

The session hosted by Imo State House of Assembly, with the Theme: "Alternatives to Militancy and the harmonisation of South-East/South-South Grazing Reserve Proposals" condemned the proposed National Grazing bill currently being sponsored on the floor of the National Assembly.

Also the session urge the various Houses of Assembly in the South-East and South-south zones to pass bills restricting cattle rearing, prohibit grazing of cattle from one location to another through farmlands which has the tendency for causing damages to farm farmlands, health hazards, and obstruction of vehicular and human traffic.

“And to reject the proposed Bill to Establish and Control Grazing Routes and Reserves before the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly,” the parliamentarians said in a public statement made available to NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Deputy Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ugonna Ozurigbo, the session equally urged the Governors of the South-East and South-South to establish special task forces drawn from various security agencies and neighbourhood watch in each Local Government to checkmate the excesses of herdsmen and prosecute them.

They argued that the proposed bill tend to authorize the National Grazing Commission to take over any piece of land they so please, and pay a token as compensation for such, completely negates the spirit of capitalist economy which Nigeria runs.

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Pix: South-South+South East Speakers of House of Assembly with Gov. Okorocha,

Implement Maputo declaration on agriculture - Lawmakers

House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has canvassed for implementation of the African Union (AU) Maputo Declaration, which requires 10 per cent of the member country’s annual budget to be voted for the development of agriculture sector.

The Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development at the National Assembly, Alhaji Mohammed Mungono and his Deputy, Alhaji Munir Babba Dan made the House position known to NaijaAgroNet, at a workshop on IAR4D and Innovation Systems Approach for SARD-SC Wheat Value-Chain, in Abuja.

The lawmakers explained that funding of research and development will be ineffective unless there is an established strong partnership with the federal government.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the legislature has not asserted step of legislation and appropriation of the African Union Maputo Declaration of 10 per cent to agriculture, because of the long history of military adventurism into the nation’s polity and the issue of budgeting between the executive and legislature.

According to Mungono “At this point, there is need to cooperate with the executive to at least give 10 per cent of our national budget to agriculture in tandem with the Maputo Declaration.”

Lamenting the over N635 billion spent on wheat importation annually, he said that although oil is a working asset, there was need to diversify the economy through agriculture to create sustainable development and generate employment.

He said that the Maputo Declaration would have been implemented if the House had the veto power, adding that “As a legislator, one of our major functions is appropriation. We assure you that we are going to do everything possible to give you robust funding not only for wheat, but also other crops and especially for research and development.”

Earlier, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina who was represented by Dr Akinbolawa Osho said the wheat value chain was expected to cover a minimum of 33,000 hectare in each of the wheat producing states, adding that about 7,500 improved seeds would be distributed to the farmers in the selected states in an effort to reduce wheat importation at least by 50 per cent.

The selected states include Borno (Ngala and Kirnowa), Taraba (Gembu, Ngoroje), Adamawa (Dasin Hausa), Bauchi (Badel Jama’are, Misau), Jigawa (Hadejia, Chiyeko, Ringim), Plateau (Tahoss), Kano (Kadawa, Bunkure, Alkamawa and Bagwai), Kebbi (Kebbi), Sokoto (Sokoto),  Zamfara (Talata Mafara), Yobe (Gashua)and Gombe (Balanga & Dadinkowa).

The Africa Union Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security of 2003 stated that 10 per cent of national budget should be allocated to agricultural development.

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