Why Transitioning to Ranching Matters for Nigeria’s Security and Livestock Sector, By Oyeyemi Abolade

Why Transitioning to Ranching Matters for Nigeria’s Security and Livestock Sector

By Oyeyemi Abolade

“A goat that feeds on another man’s farm prepares the ground for a quarrel.”
This old proverb captures, with unsettling accuracy, the tension spreading across many parts of Nigeria today. Open grazing once worked when land was plentiful and communities were small. That reality has changed. Expanding farmlands, growing settlements, climate pressure, and disappearing grazing routes have rendered the system increasingly unsustainable.

Farmer–herder clashes have grown into one of Nigeria’s most persistent internal security challenges. What often begins as cattle straying into farmlands and destroying crops now escalates into reprisals, displacement, and deadly violence. Over time, these disputes have fused with broader concerns about rural insecurity, livelihoods, and national stability.

Over the past decade, thousands of lives have been lost to conflicts linked to grazing and land use, particularly in the Middle Belt. Communities have been fractured, trust eroded, and food production disrupted. Analysts increasingly agree that this crisis is no longer just a livelihood dispute; it is a structural governance and security problem rooted in land management, resource allocation, and weak rural protection.

Nigeria hosts one of Africa’s largest livestock populations, with an estimated 18 to 21 million cattle. Livestock management, therefore, is not merely an agricultural issue—it is an economic and national security concern. In states such as Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, and Niger, clashes frequently erupt when cattle wander into cultivated fields. What starts as a disagreement over damaged crops can quickly spiral into violence, sometimes with devastating consequences.

Recent events underline the urgency. Attacks in Plateau State in late 2023 reportedly left over 160 people dead and displaced many residents. Benue State, often described as Nigeria’s food basket, continues to experience repeated violence linked to farmland destruction and grazing disputes. These incidents reflect mounting pressure on land and livelihoods, driven by population growth, climate stress, and shrinking pasture.

Ranching offers a practical path out of this cycle. Beyond preventing conflict, it introduces structure into livestock management. Keeping cattle within defined ranches significantly reduces the risk of trespassing—the most common trigger of clashes—allowing farmers and herders to pursue their livelihoods without constant friction.

A structured ranching system also improves traceability and accountability. With registered livestock owners and mapped ranches, monitoring becomes easier, helping security agencies distinguish legitimate pastoral activities from criminal elements that exploit unregulated cattle movement. This is not an indictment of herders. Rather, it recognises that the anonymity created by open grazing can be abused by violent actors. Ranching reduces that vulnerability.

Importantly, ranching also protects pastoralists themselves. In conflict-prone areas, herders often face blanket suspicion. A structured system recognises them as legitimate producers and agribusiness operators, restoring dignity to a livelihood that has sustained rural economies for generations.

The economic cost of farmer–herder conflicts is enormous. Estimates suggest Nigeria loses billions of dollars annually in agricultural output, disrupted markets, and damaged livelihoods—some studies put the figure as high as $14 billion a year. These losses weaken food security and undermine national development.

Properly implemented, ranching can stabilise livestock production, strengthen meat and dairy value chains, and generate jobs in veterinary services, feed production, transport, processing, and ranch management. For young people in rural areas, these opportunities offer alternatives to displacement, crime, and economic desperation.

Climate change has further strained traditional grazing patterns. Desertification, shrinking pastures, and drying water sources in northern Nigeria make open grazing harder to sustain. Ranching allows for controlled pasture management, water planning, and climate adaptation, reducing pressure on fragile ecosystems and supporting sustainable livestock production.

Nigeria has begun to acknowledge this reality. Initiatives such as the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) and state-level policies regulating open grazing aim to modernise livestock management and promote peaceful coexistence. However, land politics, mistrust, financing gaps, and resistance have slowed implementation. Transitioning from open grazing requires consultation, incentives, training, and genuine collaboration with pastoralist communities.

One persistent misunderstanding is the belief that ranching is designed to displace pastoralists. In truth, ranching can take many forms—private ranches, cooperative models, grazing reserves, and managed feed systems tailored to local contexts. When designed inclusively, it offers coexistence rather than exclusion.

In a Nigeria where “a cow on another man’s farm” can ignite violence, ranching is no longer just an agricultural reform. It is a strategic necessity for peace, productivity, and national stability.

Oyeyemi Abolade writes from Abuja.
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