Delta State Government has emphasized it’s determination to enforce it’s Anti-Open Grazing Law, as part of steps to enhance food security in the state.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Val Arenyeka, stated this while fielding questions from newsmen in Asaba, the state capital, noted, “We believe that open grazing is a crime.”
He said the state government was out to ensure that that farmers were safe in their farms, expressing it’s readiness to create enabling environment for the establishment of ranches.
Arenyeka said: “First, there must be peace, because without peace, there can be no development and human beings cannot even develop without peace. Why do I say there is need for peace as it affects agriculture?
“Open grazing is the greatest problem we have, facing agriculture and until we solve that, moving forward is going to be a very big challenge. We believe that open grazing is a crime, we have a law against it.
“The first step in making our farms safe for farmers is to make sure that we enforce the law and I want to assure you that our Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is determined to enforce that law, but what we are trying to do is to create enabling environment for people to establish ranches.
“Once we are able to provide that environment and the business of herding, being a personal business, those businessmen will come and establish ranching which we will give them land to do, then we would have conquered the first phase of food insecurity.
“Furthermore, we believe that agriculture is everybody’s business. The Delta State government is going into a scheme called homestead farming. Homestead farming simply means that you in your environment, you can grow some tomatoes that you don’t have to go to the market and buy.
“We are trying to encourage us to do homestead farming. Delta State government is also providing professional farmers with farm inputs and seedlings to do better in their agriculture.”
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