Nigeria ends free grazing in south-west amid clashes

Some Nigerian governors have agreed to end free range grazing in the south-west of the country to resolve the deadly conflicts between herders and farmers.

Clashes between farmers and herders – over access to land and grazing rights – have killed thousands of people over the past two decades.

The governors – some from the south-west and two from the north – met leaders of the cattle breeders association on Monday and resolved to also ban night grazing and under age herding.

They resolved to form a committee in each state to ensure a harmonious relationship between herders and farmers.

The meeting followed renewed clashes between farmers and herders in the south-west region. Last week Ondo State’s governor ordered herders to leave all forest reserves in the state.

In 2018 the International Crisis Group said clashes between herders and farmers had become Nigeria’s gravest security challenge, claiming far more lives than the decade-long Boko Haram insurgency.