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Retson Tedheke was one of the pioneers of the #OccupyNASS movement who helped lead protests at the National Assembly in 2016 demanding government attention on youth-focused projects.
He thought mobilising young Nigerians for peaceful demonstrations would accelerate youth employment, but the government paid scant attention.
His story changed after he embraced sustainable agricultural practices in Northern Nigeria.
“I left the street after realising that even if I mobilised millions of Nigerians, would they be willing to go on the street to change the system? Probably not,” Mr Tedheke said.
“But if I mobilised Nigerians into the agricultural field, would they be able to take good care of themselves? The answer is yes.”
With this in mind, he introduced farming practices that acknowledge Rural Grazing Areas (RUGA) alongside the cultivation of several staple crops simultaneously to Ga’ate community of Nasarawa state in 2017. RUGA became a touchy word in Nigeria years ago when Nigerians pushed back against the government’s plan to create grazing areas in states across the federation as a way of ending attacks between herders and farmers.
Mr Tedheke is a repentant militant who had engaged in illegal crude oil merchandise (oil bunkering) before finally carving a niche for himself in the agrarian community of Ga’ate. He hails from Ughelli North of Delta State.
Ga’ate is about an hour drive away from the Abuja municipality. It is a rural settlement tucked along the Keffi-Akwanga road in Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
It hosts eight RUGA settlements and is surrounded by 11 other communities which are: Mante, Yelwa, Metaba, Sabon Gida,Gidan Waze, Andu Galadima, Ungwan Mayo,Ungwan Wanjibi, Takusa Yelwa, Gidan Auta and Yelwa Helma.
Subsistence farming is the major occupation of the Ga’ate people. The crops grown by farmers of this settlement are mainly maize, groundnut, yam, sorghum, rice among others, coupled with extensive animal rearing by Fulani pastoralists.
Contrary to the deadly violence between herders and farmers in many northern states such as in Benue, Mr Tedheke said they have been able to maintain peaceful coexistence with herders in Ga’ate due to proactive measures implemented.
Strategies adopted
Mr Tedheke, who is the managing director, Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society (NFGCS), said such attacks are impossible when the objective of the operators is improving the wellbeing of the people.
“When we came here in 2017, he recalled, what we did was to inform the communities that we are setting up an agro estate in Ga’ate, but with the aim of bringing people of all walks of life together,” he said.
“The concept was to build an agrarian community that is involved in integrated production and at the same time understands the needs and is capable of interface with each and every person in and outside the estate.”
He said because they understood the Fulani herders would want to feed their cows, they created a grazing route around the farms so that cattles can move freely.
“We sat down with them and let them know that their animals cannot become a problem to people who want to cultivate,” he said during a visit to the farm.
He said both sides agreed that if intrusions occured, the herders would be held accountable for any damage caused by the animals.
“More importantly, there was a need to recognise that we are not driven by religious identity but by a common national identity,” he said.
Ogbeide Peter, NFGCS farm manager, said they realised that cultivating over 3000 hectares of land in the community would have a negative effect on herders of the community because their cattles would no longer have sufficient grazing land.
“We had to let them know that aside from creating grazing pathways around the farm, we would set aside some places specifically for cows to graze, which we did,” he said.
Also, he explained that after harvesting crops on their farm, they usually allow cattle to graze on the leftovers, during which excrement from the cows provide manure for the farm.
Apart from this, Mr Peter said there is a strict agreement between the farmers and the village chiefs that alongside their plans to grow crops, they have the mindset of developing the community through the provision of basic amenities and employment opportunities for youth in the community.
Because we have developed a strong relationship with the Fulani heads here, farming becomes much easier for us, Zilolo Emasealu, NFGCS agronomist and field operations manager said.
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He said as their relationship with the Fulani herders grew stronger, they tried to identify some of their challenges and solve them.
“As a result of that, they give us security information because they also have a security network in their communities,” Mr Emasealu said.
Farmer-herder conflicts
Over the past decade, Nigeria has witnessed bloody attacks between pastoralists and farmers across rural settlements, particularly in the northwestern, middle belt, and recently southern states in the country. Most of the victims have been farmers.
According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project firm headquartered in the United States, in the first half of 2018 alone, about 1,868 fatalities were attributed to farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria.
Also, it said between 2005 and mid 2021, Nigeria lost no fewer than 8,343 persons due to farmer-herder conflict. The report noted that Benue state witnessed the most violent attacks, closely followed by Plateau, Kaduna, Taraba and Nasarawa respectively.
It pegged killings in Benue at 2,539 from 303 attacks, while Plateau, Kaduna, Taraba and Nasarawa states lost 2,138, 1,188, 755, and 521 lives in 279, 160, 111 and 93 attacks respectively.
The government failed largely to deal with the crisis. In response, the federal government in 2019 had disclosed the plan to create RUGA settlements across states in the country, but this was widely criticised by Nigerians and the idea was shelved. Later that year, the government launched a 10-year National Livestock Transformation Plan in its bid to curtail the movement of cattle, boost livestock production and quell the crisis.
However, the full implementation of this is yet to be largely felt, and has been majorly crippled by incompetent political leaderships, mismanagement of funds uncertainties and the lack of expertise bedevilling relevant Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).
President Muhammadu Buhari said his administration is committed to bringing back cattle grazing routes as a way of resolving clashes between herders and farmers, another move that was widely condemned.
Several state governments (Benue, Taraba, Lagos, Osun, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Enugu states among others) have adopted anti-open grazing laws as a way to regulate animal grazing, establishment of ranches and other related matters, thus reducing potential conflicts with farmers.
Securing Gaáte farm from invaders
In the bid to properly secure their farms, farmers of the NFGCS group at Gaáte said they ensured the Fulanis were part of the farm’s security structure.
With this, they believed that trespassers can easily be traced and held accountable.
“We asked each community chief to recommend two members of their communities that would form part of the security teams on the farm, ” Mr Peter said.
The farmers explained that part of the strategies they adopted on the farm is that once a cattle strays into any part of their farm, they will have the damage cost and ask the Fulani community involved to pay for damage.
“By the time you do that, they will pay 100 per cent, they won’t negotiate with you, because it is an agreement we’ve had and this has helped to maintain peaceful coexistence with herders so far,” Mr Peter said.
He said even when one of their tractors accidentally broke the leg of a cow that strayed into the farm, they simply paid for the cattle in full.
“As I speak to you, on this farm, there are Fulani herdsmen who are part of the core security architecture in the farm.There are Fulanis who are also farmers within our staff on this farm,” Mr Tedheke added.
All of the communities contribute towards ensuring that whenever there’s a problem, we work towards common social solutions not violent solutions, the farmers said.
Providing basic amenities
The farmers also make provisions to meet the basic needs of the herders and the host communities, for peace to reign.
The farmers believe that the violence between herders and farmers is an economic issue that can only be resolved through provisions of economic solutions.
“Rural Nigeria requires basic infrastructure, the Fulanis require basic infrastructure. We cannot have over 20 million cows in this country and most of them would be roaming from the north to the south,” Mr Tedheke explained.
Based on this, the farmers collectively built a sustainable water source with access routes that currently serves all surrounding herders communities, particularly during dry spells.
“We also ensure that the clinic on our farm is able to treat people who fall ill at discounted rates, we created access roads, achieved rural electricity and constructed a dam which supplies water to animals all year round,” Mr Tedheke said.
Fulani community and Emir of Ga’ate react
This reporter decided to trace the Fulani herdsmen rearing cattles in Ga’ate community to the different spots where their cattles were grazing and of course, paid a visit to the Emir of Ga’ate for comments on all the farmers have said.
Audi Adamu, 85, who is the emir of the community, with the traditional title of Fulani Ardu, said they were so pleased with the establishment of the NFGCS farms in Ga’ate because it has brought so much relief for them and their cattles.
“All we are craving is continuous peaceful coexistence between us and them, because that is when they can continue to provide good medicine for our cattles so that they can be more healthy,” the Fulani chief said.
Also, another elder of the Fulani community, Umaru Yaro-sidi, said they have benefited a lot from NFGCS farm.
“We are now aware of a lot of things that we were ignorant of before now,” he said.
Asked how they have been able to maintain peaceful coexistence with the crop farmers, he said they have been living peacefully in the community with farmers for over 50 years, and that the NFGCS farm came to make their relationship stranger.
“All we want is to continue to have peaceful coexistence,” Mr Yaro-sidi said through a translator.
Ibrahim Labaran, Sarikin Gaate (village head of Ga’ate community) said the NFGCS farm has brought civilization to his people.
“Before now, we didn’t have an access road to this community; even, our community is a no go area for small vehicles during rainy days, but that is not the case today. Through the establishment of this farm, we have better roads, electricity, access to basic healthcare, education and peaceful relationship among my people,” Mr Labaran told PREMIUM TIMES in his palace through an interpreter, Adamu Baba.
The village head said Mr Tedheke is a blessing to the community, and has become a part of them. He said because of the key roles he played in uniting the farmers and herders of his community, they gave him the title “Sarki Yarkin Ga’ate”(King of war) of Gaate communities.
Similarly, Muhammed Bala, Waziri of Ga’ate said NFGCS farm initiative has brought tremendous growth to their community.
“Whenever any of us from this community go to other neighbourhoods around here, we are seen as elites, because of the peaceful coexistence among our people,” Mr Bala said.
Crop farmers, herders speak
While many women farmers in some communities in the country are afraid to visit their farms for fear of being attacked by herders, Hanna Bulus and her fellow women were seen working on the farm freely without fear.
Mrs Bulus, 45, said she has been working in the farm area for six years without encountering any challenges.
“This firm(NFGCS farm) has helped us a lot. I was able to get corn, yam, egusi, groundnut, ugu(Pumpkin vegetables), garden egg, rice and more from this farm every year,” she said in Hausa language.
Mrs Bulus said she benefited from the growing of rice more than anything. “We have benefited a lot honestly,” she said. “We are happy with the coming of this farm. It helps us a lot and our children. Through the company we are able to get water, food and many other things.”
Likita Muhammed, a Fulani from Nasarawa State, who heads the ranch section of NFGCS farm, said he has been working on the ranch in the past four years and they have been coexisting peacefully without any clash.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: How we plan to end farmers/herders clashes across Nigeria – Buhari
He explained that working on the farm has benefited all his family members immensely, and that there is no way cattles can stray into other peoples farms because they are constantly watching the cows as they go about grazing.
“We don’t have any problem here, nothing like Kidnapping, fighting or killings here. It cannot happen,” Mr Likita told PREMIUM TIMES.
Limitations
The farmers said the key challenges they have been facing is access to finance.
“We need financial resources to be able to send a message that yes, once we have financial industrial parks, we can change this country,” Mr Tedheke said.
He said insecurity is still a major problem bedevilling crop production on the farm, because they spend an average of N20,000 on daily basis on security.
“That is N200,000 in 10 days, and N600,000 in a month,” he noted.
He lamented that the challenges of funding, insecurity and lack of functional infrastructural support is affecting agricultural activities in the community.
“Government should begin to get heavily involved in agribusiness, because the government is the only reason in business,” the farmer said.
Samson Adenekan, and Kabir Yusuf provided additional information to this report
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