The Head of the Fulani Community in the Ashanti Region, Alhaji Osman Bin Ahmed, has called for increased patrols and checks at the country’s borders to control the entry of cattle into Ghana.
This according to him would help the government acquaint itself with the number of cattle entering the country, and track herders who are likely to cause troubles with their activities.
Although the government is working to end what has become a perennial conflict between local farmers and herdsmen in the country, the incidents keep resurfacing.
Four persons including a security guard at a plantation in Agogo, and three herdsmen at Drobonso were killed in separate attacks recently.
The situation, which is predominant in the Kumawu, Asante Akyem North, Sekyere Afram Plains and the Sekeyere Central Districts of the Ashanti Region, has always resulted in the loss of lives and properties.
A joint Security Council meeting was held to discuss ways of finding a lasting solution to the menace.
Speaking to Citi News, Ashanti Regional Chief of the Fulani community, Alhaji Osman Bin Ahmed blamed the influx of cattle in Ghana on lack of proper checks at Ghana’s borders.
“Another problem has to do with trans-human. When I say trans-human, I mean where cattle are supposed to pass. Those are the cattle that enter the country we don’t have it in Ghana. The committee went to Togo to see how they are doing it. The number of cattle that come in from Burkina, Mali and Niger, the Government should know. And there should be a route so that this is where you should move your cattle.”
“Along the lines, there are grazing areas; there are boreholes where they can take water and then the Ghana Government can charge and make more money out of it. But in Ghana, cattle just enter anywhere and nobody knows their whereabouts. At the end of the day, it creates more problems and creates problems for those who are settling here. If now the cattle are being moved from Burkina Faso to Ghana, we have to know the number of cattle that are coming, who is bringing them, who are coming with the cattle, their route, and the destination,” he said
The Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has established the National Cattle Ranching Committee mandated to roll out solutions to the farmer-herder clashes.
Alhaji Bin Ahmed indicated that the program must be rolled out in the regional district levels to help control the movement of the cattle in those areas.
He explained that there are some areas within the cattle industry that the government ought to take advantage of to boost socio-economic development, adding that it can generate more revenue and also create employment.
He expressed worry over how the military and the police target and kill cattle when they are deployed to maintain order in areas where there are disturbances.
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By: Hafiz Tijani| citinewsroom.com | Ghana
