FG to roll out drums for farmers

The Federal Government says it is planning a celebration of farmers in the country for their enormous contributions to the economy.

Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, disclosed the plan when speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.

Ogbeh said the celebration, which would be the first of its kind, would be marked across the states of the federation.

According to him, our farmers are precious to us and without them, we will not survive.

“The idea is to celebrate our farmers and encourage them to do more.

“We also need to sensitise people by telling them to get involved in agriculture,’’ he said.

On insinuations that the Federal Government was planning to forcefully collect community lands in states to sell to herdsmen with compensation to the owners, the minister described it as “complete falsehood”.

According to him, Federal Government has no such plans and we will oppose it if it comes.

He noted that some states have volunteered to give between 2,000 to 5,000 hectares of land to the Federal Government to establish cattle colonies.

“We will not seize anybody’s land. I am in charge here at least for now and I have no intention of seizing anybody’s land.

“There is no need to do it. We are going to educate people on why this system of grazing we are doing now is bad.

“We are the ones telling people to go and farm. Why should I sit here and watch herdsmen eat up what people have grown.

“We recognise that herdsmen are also farmers. It is just that over the years, we have not taken the steps we should have taken, which is why they are still working around in search of grasses for their cows.

“As these cows roam around, many of them have diseases like tuberculosis which could be transferred to human beings.

“It is in our long time interest to confine the cows and keep them where we can treat them,’’ he said.