Cattle Colony: Oyo Govt Breaks Silence, Rejects Proposed Cattle Colony | CNR

Fulani herdsman

The Government of Oyo state has bared its mind on the Federal Government proposed establishment of cattle colony in each state of the Federation, saying that the idea was strange to them as they would only allow ranching as acceptable form of cow rearing in the state.

The position of the state government was made known by the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Oyewole Oyewumi Sunday January 21, 2018 in Ibadan, the State capital.

According to the Commissioner, the state would not allow "a form of cattle rearing that encourages the animals moving around and infringing on other people's rights".

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"As a policy of the Oyo State Government today, we encourage ranching over any other methods of cattle production and development.

"We have heard talks about grazing reserves and recently about what they call cattle colonies.

"They sound very strange to us, especially in the issue of cattle colonies and I think the idea is being mooted by the Federal Government, so we await further explanations as to what cattle colony is.

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Mr. Oyewumi who said the state government had forwarded a bill to the State House of Assembly which would regulate cattle rearing activities of herdsmen in the State, insisted that the State would not accommodate any practice other than ranching, except if that was what cattle colonies meant.

"But the underlying thing for us as a state is that having our cattle in an enclosed area for control purpose is very critical to us.

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"So, if the cattle colonies envisage a situation where the colony consists of an enclosed, no matter how large, where the movement of cattle are controlled, we may look at it; but if has to be an open area where cattle will be allowed to just walk around in a free range, I don't think the Oyo State Government will be able to accommodate that.