The Ghana National Association of Cattle Farmers (GNACAF), says government must establish grazing reserves in all 216 districts to control cattle movement during grazing.
GNACAF indicated that the country’s free range grazing system has been the major challenge and catalyst for cattle entering and destroying farms in the country.
The Association noted without equivocation that its members would continue to obey the ECOWAS Protocol on grazing, which involves the free range cattle grazing system until government is able to set up fodder banks and reserves in districts across the country to meet demands of the ECOWAS Treaty.
The Association, at a media interaction in Accra on current incidents at Agogo in the Ashanti Region, between herdsmen and farmers, explained that cattle rearing, as is currently happening in the country, must not be totally condemned
The activity, which falls under the livestock industry, GNACAF indicated, contributes significantly to taxes and employment creation.
“We have more than 100,000 members of who 4,600 are registered. More than 4000 pay their taxes regularly and create employment for over one million butchers across the country, who also honour their tax obligations as meat sellers,” Imam Hanafi Sonde, President of GNACAF told the Goldstreet Business.
Explaining the circumstances of farm invasion by cattle, Sonde said: “herdsmen will not intentionally drive cattle to graze in people’s farms as most herdsmen have been detailed to peacefully cohabit with indigenes in most parts of the country.
“Inasmuch as we want to condemn the recent killing of some soldiers at Agogo by some herdsmen, we also want to condemn the haphazard shooting of cattle by some soldiers and indigenes in Agogo and other parts of the country. We wish that those herdsmen when arrested must be dealt with according to the law,” Sonde said.
GNACAF expressed its appreciation to the government for setting up the Ghana Cattle Ranching Committee, to find lasting solutions to the conflict between herdsmen and farmers at Agogo and other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Ghana is yet to ensure that most policies in the ECOWAS grazing protocol is fully implemented
The treaty which allows for herders to move across borders in search of pasture, also indicates that it is a breach of the protocol for a herdsman to control more than 50 cattle.
The ECOWAS protocol requires that an adult is put in charge of every 50 cattle in an effort to maintain greater human control over the movement of the cattle.
There is also a recommendation member countries should state the number of cattle they can allow in their country. The protocol allows the cattle to be seized if herdsmen fail to abide by the regulations.
The protocol further calls on governments of ECOWAS to create reserve grazing lands for cattle in their respective countries.
GSB