The Agogo - Fulani fracas: A case for legal and scientific solutions
It is indeed very disturbing that in this day and age, the 21st century, an agricultural enterprise in Ghana, cattle rearing, should result in the reported consternations between the nomadic herdsmen, the Fulanis, and the natives of Asante Akyem Agogo, the troubled and the unwilling hosts. It is happening because the Fulanis tend to herd their cattle to forage obtrusively into lands they don’t own.
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They are also reported to blaze a trail of atrocities which include wanton destruction of food farms, arson attacks on villages and farm houses, rape, murder, and armed robbery. The situation in Agogo has deteriorated from bad to worse and is now seriously affecting farming activities because the farmers don’t feel safe enough in their farms.
The Fulanis are traditionally nomadic herdsmen who rear their cattle through extensive range roving with virtually no boundaries to restrict their movements and for which reason, by default, the entire countryside represents their pastureland. They encamp wherever there is abundant food and stay on until the pastures are depleted to necessitate their move in search for greener pastures.
In Ghana, the Fulanis practise their industry in essentially three agro-climatic zones, viz: the interior Savannah, the Savannah-forest intergrades, and the Coastal Savannah. Among the three zones, the Savannah-forest Intergrades’ have the best soil moisture relationships at the peak of the dry season, and consequently the best pastures, a positive feature which inadvertently has become the bane of the Asante Akyem Agogo people.
Laws as intervention
From all indications, there appears to be a legal vacuum with regard to laws governing nomadism in Ghana, which has given the offenders the impetus to be recalcitrant. There is an urgent need, therefore, to address the issue quickly to avert the unnecessary confrontations which threaten the peace and security of the nation.
Nomadism is the antithesis of the modern sedentary system of rearing animals, which marked the commencement of human civilisation and ended the period in which man searched for food and meat from the wild. The system is heavily dependent on nature and very little on the modern science of the industry. Some of the dismal aspects of the nomadic system include the following:
•Systematic breeding and selection of high performing “beef cattle” are not undertaken.
•In the year, the growth of the cattle shows discontinuous curves depicted by peaks (i.e. wet season) and troughs (i.e. dry season) as dictated by the quantity and quality of the pastures in the respective seasons.
•The growth rate of the cattle is slow and as a result it takes longer time (6-8 years or more) to grow the cattle to the slaughter weight as compared to that of the advanced sedentary system (3-4 years).
•In the nomadic system, supplementary feed is not stored for cattle to cover the long dry season (5-6 months) hence the long trekking in search for water and pastures with resultant weight losses.
•The long years required to grow the cattle to slaughter weight lead to loss of some meat quality (e.g. tenderness) and poor development of some choice meat cuts (e.g. T-bone steak; sirloin etc) to the detriment of the hospitality industry.
Transmission of Tuberculosis (TB)
•Another serious area of concern is the possible transmission of Tuberculosis (TB) to consumers if the cattle are not effectively checked and treated.
•So long as the nomadic system remains the dormant system for rearing cattle in Ghana, reliance on it to raise the national annual average per capita meat consumption (i.e. 9kg) close to the world average (i.e. 38.6kg) will remain a mirage for a long time to come.
The sedentary system, on the other land, represents the advanced system of cattle rearing;
•The cattle are enclosed in a kraal within.
•Cattle breed selected through systematic breeding and pastures of high nutrient quality are developed with grazing controlled through paddocking.
•Feed (e.g. hay and silage) is stored against the winter season (i.e. the equivalent of dry season in Ghana) and the cattle are stalled-fed to ensure continuous growth and early maturity for high quality meat.
•The health of the animals are continuously checked for healthy meat.
Livestock Development Centres (LDCs)
The abolition of the nomadic system in Ghana shall be replaced by a sedentary system in the three agro-climatic zones to be known as Livestock Development Centres (LDCs)
A number of important actions will have to be taken to preceed the establishment of the LDCs and will include the following:
•Laws banning nomadism must be passed.
•Cattle farmers in the three agro-climatic zones are registered under MOFA.
•The number of LDCs to be established are determined from the cattle population.
•Land area required for each LDC is determined.
•Land acquisition process is facilitated by government.
•Sources of funding may include: government attracting private sector operators who would inject capital and agreeing with cattle farmers on their stock ceded as equity; government assistance in sourcing grants and donor funds; and some public finance as well.
Some additional expected beneficial outcomes of the LDCs will include the following:
•There will be significant increases in productivity and income of farmers that will encourage the expansion of the industry.
•The youth can access jobs and training at the centres
•The universities will conduct research and train graduates to generate the backstopping information to support the growth of the centres.
•The accumulated cow dung could be composted into manure to commence a profitable vegetable farm industry.
•Proper management of the hide will give impetus to the establishment of a tannery from which, many secondary industries will spring up, thus, creating jobs for the youth.
The good news is that the essential knowledge required to set up the LDCs and run them scientifically and efficiently abound in our universities, especially the premier university, University of Ghana ,Legon. The Department of Animal Science, under the College of Agriculture and Consumer Science, Legon, can boast a wealth of relevant data covering over 50 years of dedicated livestock studies on the Accra plains.
The state and private sector operators should, therefore, empower the universities with funding and challenge them to support the development of the LDCs as Research and Development Partners to enable them to apply their abundant knowledge which is otherwise lying cold on the shelves, awaiting for this opportunity.
Efficiently managed LDCs will represent the nation’s boldest and perhaps the biggest attempt that explores science-based solutions to rear cattle to meet its annual meat demand.
If the nation is able to overcome the forces of institutional inertia and cease the bull by the horns, Ghana will stand at the threshold of breaking the jinx that has bedevilled its efforts to increase meat production for the benefit of its people through a system which will not be at the cost of social revulsion and indignation as is being witnessed in the Asante Akyem Agogo area.
Writer’s e-mail: [email protected]